


Vice Versa

by ServarePromissum



Category: Ben 10 Series, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Amnesiac Ben, Dense to feelings Albedo, F/F, F/M, Gen, I can't resist fights and action, I'll add more as story progresses - Freeform, M/M, Misunderstandings, New ideas are welcome-If you want that is, Possible conflicts, Time Shenanigans, Trust Issues, canon divergences, paradoxes, possible angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2019-11-15 05:41:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 32,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18067646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ServarePromissum/pseuds/ServarePromissum
Summary: Ben's interference with Albedo's teleporter led them in this mess. Now he was stuck with amnesiac hero, Ultimatrix was acting strange, and they were in a bizarre world where people wore capes and masks. I own nothing!





	1. Chapter 1.

Ben's POV:

 

''Wake up, Ben Tennyson!''

 

Ben struggled to open his eyes. ''Five more minutes.'' He mumbled sleepily.

 

He was slapped on the face. ''Wake up!''

 

Human jolted up, eyes wide as saucers, his hand on his left cheek. ''Dude, what the hell!?''

 

He froze when he met attacker's eyes. _'Red?'_

 

He blinked and took another look, this time fully taking in the sight before him. Standing teen was looking down on him, two red orbs glared at him with contained anger, average height, skinny; proper skinny, but still imposing. Especially with that white hair, pale skin, black eyebrows, red jacket with black stripes, and black jeans. He also noticed number 10 on boy's jacket.

 

His green eyes stared at other boy with strange sense of familiarity, like he was supposed to know him, but for some reason, he couldn't remember who the guy was. He paused when he realized something important. ''Who am I?''

 

Albedo's POV:

 

Albedo was not having a good day, once again, the reason for his distress was the bane of his existence: Benjamin Kirby Tennyson. Human just had to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, AGAIN! Somehow, the annoying hero always managed to ruin Ex-Galvan's plans, this time was no exception. White haired boy was not even committing a crime of any kind! ...Well, besides some stolen tech... and breaking and entering... assault... robbery... technically kidnapping... as well as... some other misdemeanors.

 

Albedo shook his head. _'Not the point!'_

 

He woke up in unknown place, as far as he could tell, a poorly lit metal cell, with blue energy field holding them both in. By the marks on his and Ben's wrists, it was obvious that someone took their blood. _'For what purpose? Why would they need our DNA? To identify us?'_ That would not be good for Albedo, he was a wanted criminal in most places. _'But it is also very unlikely, Ben Tennyson is well know across the universe, the wilder of omnitrix, the one who stopped Highbreed Invasion, a hero.'_ Albedo glared at the sleeping boy. _'No, he wouldn't be put in here with me of all people, he would most likely be taken to the highest figure of authority, so that they can worship this annoying human.'_ Whoever locked them up in this small cell wanted something from them. _'They will receive more than something for locking me up with him, I just need to regain my strength to transform and I will be out of here, and once I am out, I will sho-'_

 

His thought of aggressive retaliation was interrupted by the sleeping teen on the floor, who changed his pose from sleeping on side position with his thumb in mouth, to laying on his back with his hands on his stomach. He was sleeping very peacefully. Too peacefully.

 

That angered Albedo even more. ''Putting me in this situation, and not even bothering to be conscious during it.''

 

Albedo walked to slumbering boy, 2 steps, a really small cell. He stood just above him, red eyes fixated on the sleeping human. He leaned down. ''Wake up, Ben Tennyson!''

 

''Five more minutes.''

 

Ex-Galvan had enough. His left hand struck Ben's left cheek with awesome speed and strength. Human's head snapped to the right as his eyes flew open. He quickly took a sitting position and rubbed his bruised cheek. _'Serves you right.'_

 

''Dude, what the hell!?''

 

The moment he met Albedo's eyes, brunette froze in place. Albedo expected other to say something unintelligent and go for his Ultimatrix; The usual. (He worried not, Ultimatrix was in recharge mode for some reason, he checked when he woke up in this cell.)

 

Instead, green eyes blinked owlishly. His stare intensified as his hand was lowered from his face. As if seeing Albedo for the first time, not even bothering to look at his wrist to check on Ultimatrix.

 

Of course Albedo thought of stealing Ultimatrix while other slept.

 

 _'After all, it's mine, I created it.'_ He thought bitterly. But he knew better, he knew that Azmuth - _'The first thinker'_ \- would have installed additional protocols and protections to Albedo's creation, he didn't even attempt to take it from Ben. He didn't even have any real desire to get it back.

 

 _'I will steal it, and then what? Repairing myself is beyond my abilities, even with Ultimatrix. Only Azmuth can help me, and he won't even listen to me if he sees that I stole the device from his chosen one... again.'_ A cold anger seethed in him as he stared downwards, completely lost in his thoughts. He just admitted to himself that without Azmuth, he would never find salvation. _'No, I have admitted that when I gathered teleport to go to him and_ _ **beg**_ _him to help me!'_

 

Before he could continue his thought process down that line, he was pulled out of his thoughts by the annoying human's whisper. ''What did you say?''

 

Boy repeated himself. ''Who am I?''

 

Albedo froze in one place, his - _'infinitely superior to humans'_ \- brain working hard on what he just heard. He looked at green eyed brunette, scowling. ''This is not time nor place for your childish games, Ben Tennyson.''

 

Ben titled his head curiously, not even bothered by the presence of his enemy. ''Is that my name?''

 

Albedo opened his mouth to reply, but stopped for a second to confirm, his red eyes scanning other boy up and down. ''You really don't remember?''

 

Ben shook his head. ''No.'' He whispered lowly, feeling uncomfortable with lack of knowledge about himself, his eyes locked on the forcefield which was holding them in. Albedo almost pitied him... almost.

 

''Do you know who I am?''

 

Another dejected: ''No.''

 

''What do you remember?'' Asked white haired boy, he himself getting frustrated at Ben's memory loss.

 

Ben looked at him, Albedo could see him trying to remember something useful, maybe something that will trigger his memories back, _'And maybe he will?'_ but that hope was crushed when Ben's head fell and he mumbled pathetic: ''Nothing.''

 

Albedo bit his lip. -''Another useless quirk, courtesy of Ben Tennyson's teenage body''- _'What should I do now?'_

 

General POV:

 

Albedo was fuming as he walked around in what little space cell could provide, dealing with amnesiac hero was not what he wanted to do, he couldn't transform into useful alien, Ultimatrix was recharging, thus making it -for the moment- useless, and they were both at the mercy of their captor(s). Basically, all the makings of his lucky day! _'Only thing missing is Ben Tennyson's stupid friends being here.'_

 

Ben watched him with hesitant look, not wanting other teen's obvious anger directed at him if he said too much.

 

Albedo stopped after five minutes, vague action plan forming in his head. _'...Better than nothing.'_ He directed his gaze at the sitting teen, took a seat on the floor in front of him, and calmly started explaining. ''You are Ben Tennyson, my name is Albedo, we are both trapped in here, by whom I don't know. For now, this is all I can tell you, after our escape, I will explain everything, I'm doing this to not overwhelm you with information, which can make our escape more difficult. Any questions?'' He finished, but Ex-Galvan was still wondering if aligning with Ben Tennyson -Even if temporary- was worth it... Most likely yes. Human proved himself resourceful many times during their numerous confrontations, as much as it pained Albedo to admit it. Not to mention that leaving device like Ultimatrix -His creation- to who knows what didn't bode well, and it wouldn't win him any points of mercy with Azmuth.

 

Despite small amount of info, Ben was overwhelmed, he started visibly shaking, heartbeat more frequent, breathing all but impossible. _'We are hostages? By whom? For what? Who is this guy? Can I trust him? My name is Ben...I'm in danger! What is happening!?'_ Lack of understanding of oneself was proving itself too difficult for him.

 

Albedo saw panic rise in human's eyes, dealing with amnesiac Ben was hard enough, hysterical Ben would make it near impossible to escape. _'Not good, he is going to break, stupid humans and their emotional vulnerability! What should I do?! How does one calm a panicking human?!'_

 

Albedo spent long time on earth, longer than he would have liked, trapped in Ben's hormonal body, constantly craving fast food, having non-stop need to shower and other disadvantages of any teenage human, though many aspects of Terran culture still eluded him, he had seen their TV - ''Utterly pointless, it makes humans lazy and dumb... well, lazier and dumber.''- In many of -''Nonsensical!''- things he watched, holding someone closely in one's arms, especially as a sign of something humans called affection, seemed to help calm them down.

 

That's what he went with.

 

Ben froze in place as he felt other boy's arms around him, holding him close, very close, he could feel white haired boy's warm breath on the back of his neck. Tension slowly drained from his body as he wrapped his arms around Albedo, returning the hug. Shaking seemed to melt away, his breathing even, mind calmer and heartbeat normal, he felt... safe. They were like that for about three minutes.

 

Albedo didn't know how long this should last, brown haired boy in his arms seemed to be calm and firm in the hug, holding onto red eyed human as if he was his last lifeline... He might as well be, considering their situation.

 

Silence hung in the air, disturbed only by their breathing and forcefield's buzzing. _'Did it work? Should I say something?...What did that Earth TV human say again? Ah, I remember...It was something like..'_

 

''...Um..'' He began, trying to say it same way he heard it being said, voice warm, full of honey and assurance. ''You can always feel safe in my arms, I'll never let you go.''

 

Human held on him even tighter, he could feel other stop breathing for a moment, before resuming at slightly higher than normal speed. _'Did I say it wrong?'_ He waited for human to do something. _'Should I pull away?'_ He decided against it, rarely did ones who started the hug end it in TV, it was mostly ones who the hugs meant to calm down that ended it. Using TV knowledge proved effective so far, he had no desire to sabotage hero's calm state. So they stayed like that for 2 more minutes before brunette finally decided to pull away.

 

Ben's face was crimson, his eyes shyly looking into Albedo's red ones, as if captured by them. White haired boy's words disbarred his other thoughts, leaving him with warm feeling in his cheeks. Now that they were arm's-length away, he dared to ask, albeit with much hesitance. ''Are... are me and you?... um...''

 

Albedo frowned at his question. Were he and Ben what? Sudden uneasy look on brunette's face, what did that mean? _'He is wary? Why would he be wary of... Could it be...'_ ''You are starting to remember?'' He said with eager smile. Fully functioning Ben Tennyson would be less annoying to deal with, not to mention more useful in their escape. _'A day when I consider Ben Tennyson to be less annoying than something, it is somehow fitting that only Ben Tennyson can be more irritating than Ben Tennyson, he outdoes himself in that.'_ He thought to himself with an inside smirk.

 

Ben slowly shook his head in negative. ''No... it's just that... I get this feeling of ...When I look at you... The feeling of-''

 

Albedo's smile fell as he listened. _'His instincts must be telling him that I am the enemy, not surprising, considering how many times we clashed in the past.'_ It was better than nothing, he supposed, best he was going to get for the moment. _'Also possibly dangerous, his full cooperation is a necessity if we are to successfully escape, him being unnecessarily hostile might prove catastrophic for both of us.'_

 

Ex-Galvan concluded that Ben wanted to know if Albedo was the enemy. ''That'' He interrupted Ben before he could finish. ''is a good question.''

 

He stood up, with back turned to the other boy, looking into darkness that was outside of forcefield. He could feel other's intense gaze on his back. Red eyed teen started explaining without looking at the human. ''Yes, we are, were more like it, although technically we still are... it's hard to explain, I was about to end it between us before we ended up here.'' _'Thanks to you.'_ He left that part out, less hostile he was, better chances of cooperation he would get.

 

He then turned to now frowning brunette. ''I assure you, Ben Tennyson, my desire and determination to help us escape unharmed, and delivering you to safety, is solid. I need you to trust me... please. Just follow my instructions and I will do my best to protect you.''

 

Ben didn't know what to feel. _'He was about to end it between us... was I a bad... um...'_ He felt strange about it, focusing on the other boy helped him calm down in his amnesiac state of mind; Focused his thoughts in one place. Besides, he could trust him. _'He knows me, we are... were...'_ He blushed once more, remembering warm hug he received. _'Get a hold of yourself, he needs you to, and you need him.'_

 

He too stood up, now standing on the same height as Albedo, green eyes filled with tenacity. ''I trust you. Let's do this.'' _'As long as I won't think too hard about my amnesia, I'll be fine, Albedo needs me to save us. Then he shall explain everything to me. And we... will figure all of this out.'_

 

Albedo smiled with genuine smile. Took him a while, even almost begging human to trust him, but he finally had Ben on his side to escape this place.

 

Ben responded with a smile of his own, recognizing how good other looked when he smiled.

 

Suddenly, room became illuminated with light, as previously unseen door opened. From what they could see, it was some kind of large laboratory, with strange horned creatures in pods, they looked severely deformed.

 

Equipment was too advanced to be human, Albedo noted.

 

Meanwhile, Ben was both horrified and curious, keeping his thoughts contained as much as he could.

 

He heard Albedo whisper. ''Follow my lead and do not speak if you can help it.''

 

Ben nodded, he could do that, but Albedo couldn't see it, his red eyes were on a human standing in the door.

 

''Oh, good of you two to finally wake up.''

 

Human walked towards them. He appeared to be a male well into his forties. _'A scientist, if coat, glasses, and laboratory is anything to go by.'_ Albedo thought, his red eyes slightly narrowed. Where were they? Was this guy experimenting on... aliens?

 

''Where are we? And who are you?'' Albedo asked as man stopped in front of their cell.

 

Scientist raised an eyebrow. ''Don't you know where you teleport into? This is Cadmus! And I am Doctor Desmond, at your service.'' Man held his hands out wide, almost dramatically, with a matching grin on his face, one might think that he practiced for this in front of a mirror. ''And,'' His arms fell as grin was replaced with serious expression. ''if I may ask, who are you two? You suddenly teleported into our lovely facility, unconscious, we were so worried about being discovered, my bosses and I are very curious about you two.''

 

Albedo knew nothing of any Cadmus, but the fact that they were worrying about being discovered, reinforced his suspicions on it being a secret lab doing illegal experiments.

 

Ex-Galvan was was also troubled by the fact that human didn't know who Ben was. He obviously had access to illegal technology, which meant he had to have at least some kind of knowledge about annoying hero. _'Not to mention that Terrans practically worship the fool, how does he not recognize him?... maybe if I introduce us to him... is it worth the risk?'_

 

He glanced at confused Ben who looked ... very lost, and he was, with no memories about himself. But no emotional breakdown in sight. Albedo was almost impressed.

 

''So?'' Man urged them to talk. Albedo's eyes returned on him.

 

''This is Ben Tennyson,'' White haired boy introduced, scanning man's face for any kind of recognition; He found none. ''and I am Albedo. Are we under arrest?''

 

''Interesting.'' Doctor muttered to himself. ''And yes, I'm afraid you are far too intriguing to memory wipe and set free.''

 

''Not that it's an option.'' He added ''With us not being able to enter your minds while you were sleeping, and believe me, we tried very hard, even with equipment to see and extract your memories, we could not get even a glimpse into your heads.'' He sounded disappointed.

 

Albedo paled. _'This level of technology shouldn't be on earth, it is only a level 3 planet! What in the name of science are the Plumbers doing? Not their job, that's for certain.'_ He turned to Ben to ask... but he quickly reminded himself of brunette's condition. He turned back to the doctor and thought of what other said more carefully. _'He was not able to access our minds, why is that? Is he lying to us? No, he would get nothing by lying about it to us... and by how he said it, whatever means they use to probe minds is effective, he made it sound like a standard protocol, they are probably doing that to people who have discovered their secret research... most of the time at least... that reduces possibility of their means of mind invasion being ineffective... Also, I can understand not being able to get memories out of Ben Tennyson's head, his amnesia would most likely be a problem... but me? What defends me?'_

 

'Well?'' Doctor said. ''Do you have anything to say for yourselves?''

 

Maybe if he faked ignorance. ''Please, we are just lost kids, we don't know anything that may interest you and-''

 

''Do you take me for fool?!'' Desmond snapped, cutting him off.

 

 _'You are a human, you are all fools to me, so yes!'_ Deadpanned Albedo in his mind.

 

''We scanned you and your brother's DNA.''

 

That earned a glare form Albedo and confused look from already very confused Ben.

 

''Your DNA is most curious.'' He turned around and pulled out a black remote control device from his lab coat. Doctor pushed the blue button -There were 3 other buttons on it, Albedo noted, green, red, and black, he was confident that one of them was a way to deactivate their cell- and hologram appeared between doctor and their enclosure, displaying data to all three of them. Then he pushed the black button and room went as dark as it was before, enhancing hologram's visibility.

 

''It is similar to your brother's, no surprise there, but, and this is the interesting part, some of the cells seem to be in a flux, constantly trying to change into something ...different; Not human. Successful change is only for a nanosecond and few, It's as if your cells are trying to change into something different each time, and every time they revert back to their original human cells, it's fascinating! No to mention the fact that there are some cells that seem artificial, damaged even, but the damage itself is a form of art on its own!'' He said it as a giddy kid who was looking at his toys in marvel. Albedo got the idea of what kind of man he was dealing with.

 

 _'But damn it all! I don't need my shame rubbed into my face.'_ He looked down, feeling embarrassment. His prison, this body, a cruel humiliation that broke his will, there were moments where he wished to never have gone against Azmuth, to never have ruined his life.

 

Ben's gaze was not on the hologram, nor were his ears listening to doctor's explanation, he was observing his distressed companion with sad eyes. White haired boy looked miserable, clearly, doctor's words hurt him greatly. Brunette didn't like that, not one _bit_. His green eyes turned to ranting doctor, burning with anger.

 

''And the small trace of unknown energy in you, it's the same one that device on your brother's right hand discharges, never seen anything like it! We tried taking it off him and hacking into it, but as you can see, our efforts were for nothing, removing his arm was considered, but we didn't want to trigger possible self-destruct mechanism.''

 

Albedo snapped his head back up to glare at doctor. ''Wise choice, you saved the planet.'' He spat. _'The audacity of his, how dare he touch Ultimatrix!'_

 

Other only replied by. ''Brilliant!'' Unaffected by Albedo's mention that he could have damaged earth with his meddling, he continued. ''I can only assume it's alien...''

 

It was not a question.

 

''You assume correctly on that.'' Albedo agreed begrudgingly. _'Need to buy us more time.'_ He looked down on his right hand and stopped breathing for a second. _'Oh...'_ Smile appeared on his face, and more detailed plan in his head. ''And what of my associate, Ben Tennyson,''

 

_'It is still here, I almost forgot about it.'_

 

''is he not interesting enough for you?'' He gestured at still glaring brunette innocently.

 

Ben snapped out of 'try to kill a doctor with his eyes' moment when Albedo pointed at him. He was in a weird and dangerous situation, Ben realized that much, his name only thing he knew about himself... Well, besides... he looked shyly at Albedo, who was oblivious to other's glance.

 

''I was just getting to him.'' Doctor Desmond exclaimed enthusiastically, making Albedo feel even more annoyed at him.

 

''He is no less fascinating, mind you, it took us while to notice it, but we detected trace of unknown energy in him as well, if it was not for our technology and expertise, we might have missed it. His energy is totally different from yours, the thing we found in your DNA,''

 

Desmond deactivated hologram and turned the lights on. At the same time, his observed Ben, addressing him directly and causing teen to feel more uneasy, if it was even possible.

 

''it's anything but human! We just can't study it... yet, it's almost as if it is sentient and doesn't want to be studied. I can't even show you what we tried to see, it is that good at staying hidden, we can only confirm its existence by the fact that it circumvents our attempts of studying it, even going as far as to somehow fry equipment we were using, one of my colleagues even lost an eye, that being said, I can't wait to research you two!'' He added last part with a manic smile. He couldn't believe that such perfect puzzle boxes fell -Teleported- right into his lab, no records when they tried face recognition and fingertips, as far as humanity was concerned, those two didn't exist... Which meant he could let lose and do research as much as he liked, and boy, did he have plans for those two, Light would be very happy with his results. He did feel as if it was too good to be true at first... but the possibilities those two provided for Cadums dwarfed his fears.

 

Ben felt weird, and honestly creeped out by him and his description. Most of it fell over his head, if he thought too much about it, he would panic... _'No! It will be harmful to me and Albedo. I mustn't.'_

 

''What did you say?'' Asked Albedo with curious tone.

 

Doctor Desmond put the remote control device away in his lab coat. ''Do you really need me to repeat myself?'' He asked in amusement.

 

Albedo was not faking his curiosity. He had heard of what creepy doctor described. ''Is what you said true?''

 

''Yes.'' Doctor said carefully, observing Albedo's reaction.

 

Albedo turned to Ben, unable to hide his surprise. ''You are half Anodite?''

 

Ben looked beyond confused, looking at Albedo like a lost puppy.

 

White haired boy rolled his eyes. _'This situation is exhausting... Everything that has something to do with Ben Tennyson is, and always was.'_ But he did allow himself a moment of smugness. _'I knew Azmuth wouldn't let some random/normal human have such technology, all his preaching and smugness that a simple human achieved great acts of heroism with my Ultimatrix, so much for human potential.'_

 

''And what is this Anodite you mentioned?'' Desmond asked, intrigued.

 

Albedo sighed. _'Buy more time.'_ He could feel his energy returning, and no doubt Ultimatrix would recharge soon as well. ''How much time did we spend here?''

 

''You are not in a position to ask questions, but if it gets me answers faster... a day and a half, we kept you sedated for tests.''

 

Red eyed boy's blood boiled, and he tried to hide his anger. They did god knows what to them for day and a half. ''How dare you?!'' Ex-Galvan hissed.

 

Doctor Desmond shrugged. ''My lab... Light's lab.'' He corrected himself. ''My rules. Everything that is in Cadmus is a test subject, even myself if need be.'' He said with nonchalance. ''Now which of you would like to start talking? Considering that you two are new here, I'll let first one of you to tell me everything I want to know not get experimented on for a day? It's a generous offer, I advice one of you to take it.''

 

Were it any other time, Albedo would happily throw hero under the bus, both literally and figuratively, but despite their ...conflicting pasts, red eyed boy felt that there was no reason for him to be Ben's enemy, at least not now. And he did promise to do his best to protect him. _'Hard to believe I am really doing this.'_ He protectively stood in front of brunette, who shrunk back behind him and put his hands on Albedo's shoulder, hiding from Desmond's gaze.

 

That was apparently what middle aged Doctor wanted. ''And now I know which one of you will be first to go.'' His smile was wicked. He was counting on using weakest of them as a leverage, to make strongest of two speak... And Ben, who looked extremely lost, confused and scared, seemed like a perfect target.

 

Albedo opened his mouth to try and buy themselves more time, when doors opened and another man walked it, he wore a dark blue jump suit with a golden helmet and golden shoulder and wrist pads. Oddly dressed human had a strange white creature sitting on his shoulder.

 

Albedo narrowed his eyes. _'It looks like creatures in those pods.'_

 

''Doctor Desmond.'' Man asked for his attention.

 

Doctor didn't look at him, keeping his gaze on teens in the cage, but he did sound irritated at interruption. ''Tell me, Guardian, what part of no interruptions did you not understand?''

 

He finally looked away from his prisoners -Future test subjects- and turned to guardian, arms crossed. ''If you are here to tell me what caused the street level fire, it can wait.''

 

Guardian shook his helmet covered head in negative. ''Fire department is still cleaning up, I'll begin my investigation once they leave.''

 

''Then what is it?'' Asked doctor impatiently.

 

''A G-Gnome reports three intruders on su-''

 

Doctor sighed, his left hand on his head, rubbing it gently. ''Did I miss a perimeter breach alert?''

 

''No.'' Guardian stated carefully.

 

Desmond turned to caged teens once more, waving away Guardian like it was nothing. ''Then G-Gnome is confused, whatever may happen in our lab out there real Cadmus is the most secure place in DC.'' He finished with confidence and pride in his voice.

 

Guardian seemed skeptical at the response. ''My job is to keep it that way.'' He reminded and turned to listening teens behind energy shield. ''Need I remind you that those two managed to sneak in this very cell just two days ago?''

 

Doctor shook his head. ''No, they most likely teleported in here by accident, if justice league knew about this place, they would have barged in here by now, not sent children to do their work, most likely those two were playing with a teleporter and set coordinates on random, which lead to their visit in our lovely facility.''

 

Doctor paused, looking a bit tired. ''Two days of high alert and no sleep were for nothing I suppose.''

 

Guardian stayed silent for a moment, before asking. ''Are you sure that's really the case?''

 

Doctor suddenly turned to him with annoyed look. ''Well I was about to find out for sure, you know, before you interrupted us?''

 

Guardian said nothing, which annoyed Desmond. ''You are free to take a squad and check, just makes sure you keep your G-Gnome with you at all times.''

 

Guardian opened his mouth, as if to object, but before whatever he was about to say made it past his lips, G-Gnome's horns glowed red. Guardian nodded slowly. ''Yes, I will take a squad down there at once, G-Gnome shall remain with me at all times.''

 

Doctor Desmond muttered to himself as Guardian left. ''It's ninth false alarm this day.''

 

He walked to holding cell, stopping 2 steps away form the energy field and leaning slightly forward. ''Now where were we?''

 

Albedo, who was listening to Doctor's conversation with Guardian, learned a lot from it. Their location for one, and a fact that the facility they were in was much bigger than he previously thought. How Plumbers were still unaware of this place was something he would contemplate later. ''Wouldn't more remote location be more effective place to hide a secret facility of this size?'' He asked. Hoping to change the subject.

 

Desmond looked surprised at random question, but answered nonetheless. ''True, but the size of our operations require lots of resources, it's easier to get said resources in a city, much more untraceable, and hiding in plain sight is an advantage within its own right, justice league doesn't know a thing about us.''

 

Albedo raised an eyebrow. ''And justice league is?''

 

Desmond shot him a glare. ''I told you to not to take me for a fool!''

 

' _Not good.'_ Albedo thought. Fortunately, with Ben's hands still on his back, _'Why haven't I shooed him away him away yet?.. no matter.'_ he heard Ultimatrix recharge, and his own strength came back with it. _'Finally!'_

 

''Doctor Desmond, as I understand, you are interested in alien technology, maybe we can come to an agreement...'' Albedo began. His left hand moved on his right hand, covering it from doctor's view. He tried to pass it off as a nervous movement on his part.

 

Desmond paused, that did sound interesting. ''Go on.''

 

''What if I was to offer you a device that could be mostly undetectable to simple scans and even invisible to naked eye and X-ray? What if you could wear that device on your body... what if said device could deactivate energy fields of certain power level for four seconds by disturbing energy flow...''

 

Albedo's right hand suddenly touched the energy field. It flickered out of existence long enough for him to step out of his cell, leaving startled brunette behind as energy field went back up.

 

Doctor Desmond looked very shocked, but he quickly took couple of steps back and pulled out remote control device from his pocket. He wasted no time in pushing the red button.

 

''...''

 

Nothing happened.

 

Albedo walked towards cowering doctor with a smirk.

 

''It also blocks most signals in a certain distance from 10 to 15 minutes, useful for hacking as well.''

 

White haired boy took his time in punching doctor couple of times without mercy, doctor's broken glasses fell on the floor, he kept punching until other could barely stand, with blood flowing from his broken nose like a red river, along with very swollen left eye and cheek.

 

Looking at it, Albedo was satisfied with his work, he could feel doctor's warm blood on his fists, and sudden adrenaline flow in his body, he liked it.

 

He paused and scowled. 'Human bodies are so primitive.' If he was his cold-blooded Galvan self, he would be more logical with this action, taking doctor as a hostage would have been what he would do. He looked at beaten doctor, who could fall into unconsciousness any minute. _'Dragging him around now will only slow us down. I can't even interrogate him in this state'_

 

Realizing that there was no time to regret his action, Albedo punched doctor Desmond one more time, this time fully knocking him out on the cold floor.

 

Then red eyed boy picked up remote control device that doctor Desmond dropped after receiving first punch. He held it in his left hand, but he had his attention on his right hand. He admired currently visible black ring on his right middle finger, that bloodstained device helped him numerous times in escapes from Plumber prisons. Then he turned to the reason why he ended up in Plumber prisons most of the time.

 

Ben was looking at Albedo with awe in his eyes, and grin on his face. ''That was so cool!''

 

Albedo raised an eyebrow and deactivated his ring. _'Saviour of galaxies cheering me on for beating an old Terran, who from the looks of it, hasn't slept since we got here.'_ He pushed the green button, and as he expected, energy field holding Ben got turned off. Brunette immediately rushed to his side, standing close to Albedo.

 

Ex-Galvan dropped the device and glanced at knocked out doctor. The man was out cold, laying on the floor face down, which would no doubt hurt his bleeding nose even more. _'Then again, this human wanted to experiment on us.'_

 

''What now?'' Ben asked.

 

 _'Now we call for help.'_ Red eyed boy thought.

 

Albedo took for Ben's left hand, holding it up gently in his own hands, making other boy blush in the process. ''What are yo-'' Rolling up brunette's green jacket revealed Ultimatrix. ''What's that?''

 

''Ultimatrix.'' Albedo answered.

 

''What's that?''

 

Albedo glanced at him, before continuing his work, going thru holograms of different aliens. ''I'll explain later. Now, Ultimatrix, code 1-3-0-0-5-3 Alpha 3-6-4 requesting access to information.''

 

Green light shone from the device, going up and down Albedo's body before stopping.

 

 **''Request denied.''** Mechanical voice stated.

 

''Figures.'' Albino muttered with distaste. He looked at Ben. ''You must grant me permission.''

 

Brunette looked at device on his wrist with discomfort. ''...Permission granted?''

 

**''Scans designated him as 'Albedo the ex-Galvan'. Are you positive that you want to grant him limited access to the Ultimatrix data and functions?''**

 

Ben looked at Albedo, who was glaring at Ultimatrix, catching other's gaze, red eyed boy nodded for him to continue.

 

''Yes.''

 

**''Request granted.''**

 

''Ultimatrix,'' Albedo started. ''contact Azmuth.''

 

**''Communication circuits are damaged. Request can not be granted.''**

 

''...Damaged how?'' Albedo asked, not knowing how that could have happened.

 

**''It got damaged when Ultimatrix shielded the holder from temporal cataclysm.''**

 

 _'Temporal cataclysm...'_ Red eyes went wide in shock as he took a step back. _'How did we survive that? Ultimatrix should not be able to shield us from such phenomenon... unless, Azmuth, what did you do?'_ He took his gaze towards Ben who was staring at him, green eyes filled with questions he didn't have time nor desire to answer. _'I must get a hold of myself, first things first, get ourselves to safety.'_

 

He put the thought in 'to do later box' among other things and concentrated on matter at hand. ''Give me damage report.'' Albedo hoped he didn't let any of his distress into his voice.

 

**''Evolutionary function: Undamaged.''**

 

**''Telepathic circuitry: Undamaged. Telepathic shields at 100%''**

 

Albedo bit his lip. _'He installed telepathic shields into Ultimatrix?!'_ Suddenly their captors's inability to access their minds made more sense... which also brought up disturbing thoughts on why shields also extended on himself. _'I don't have time for this!'_ Another thought into 'to do later box'.

 

**''DNA sample acquisition: Disabled indefinitely.''**

 

' **'Temporal shields: In repair. Unavailable until further notice.''**

 

_'Where and when did Azmuth get that?'_

 

**''Temporal extractor: Fully functioning.''**

 

_'And that.'_

 

**''Recharge mode: Enforced to conserve the energy.''**

 

**''Master control: Disabled to conserve the energy.''**

 

**''DNA repair function: Disabled permanently.''**

 

**''Self repair function: In self repair mode.''**

 

_'...'_

 

**''Emotional inhibitor: Deactivated.''**

 

_'This ...is going to be a problem.'_

 

**''Universal translator: Functioning at 65% efficiency.''**

 

**''Scanners: Undamaged. Additional information: Foreign and possibly hostile objects found in your bloodstream during scan.''**

 

Albedo paused for a second before words truly registered in his mind, and when they did, his voice exploded with anger. ''What did you say?!''

 

**''Foreign and possibly hostile object foun-''**

 

''I heard you the first time!'' He pointed at Ben. ''Scan him too.''

 

Ultimatrix obeyed. Green light scanned Ben as well. **''Foreign objects in your bloodstream detected.''**

 

''Can you remove them?'' Urgency was clear in Albedo's voice.

 

**''Running calculations.''**

 

 _''How dare they._ '' Albedo said out loud.

 

Ben flinched at the harshness in Albedo's voice. ''...What's wrong?''

 

Albedo laid his glaring red orbs on him, and brunette shivered. ''What else do you think they did to us while we were sedated?''

 

Ben's eyes went wide. ''You don't mean that they-''

 

Albedo glared at knocked out doctor, then his glare shifted to remote control device near his own foot, the function of red button becoming quite clear. ''Yes. They most likely dosed us with nanobots or something similar.''

 

Ben titled his head. ''That sounds very, very bad.''

 

Albedo went near beaten doctor and kicked him in the stomach, not holding back at all. ''You have no idea.''

 

**''Calculations complete.''**

 

Albedo ran back to Ben's side, with hope in his eyes. Ben shared his enthusiasm wholeheartedly. He wanted whatever was in them out as well. Holding up his left hand in air, he waited for device to continue.

 

**''Recommendation: There is 80% probability that transformation into alien species will destroy or deactivate foreign objects in your bodies.''**

 

''Of course!'' Albedo exclaimed with understanding. ''Why did not I think of that? Ben Tennyson, do not panic no matter what you will see now, can you do that?''

 

Ben nodded hesitantly, unsure.

 

Albedo nodded back and in a flash of red light transformed himself into Necrofriggian.

 

Ben looked at blue colored phantom like creature with a bit of fright, but to his credit, he didn't panic. His voice was a bit shaky, he was lost beyond words, but he did not panic. ''Is that y-you, Albedo?'' Ben asked carefully, feeling sudden cold in the room.

 

Creature's red eyes stared at him for a second before bone chilling voice answered. _**''Yes, it is I.''**_

 

''How did yo-''

 

 _ **''No time to explain. Now stand still and don't panic.''**_ Creature-No, Albedo moved towards him and Ben had to give it all he had to not move back. Red eyed creature seized his left hand, making him shiver at how cold its touch was.

 

Albedo selected Necrofriggian in Ultimatrix and pushed the device. In a flash of green, brunette was replaced with alien, albeit this one had green eyes instead of red like Albedo's.

 

Ben was shocked at his new form, looking at his inhuman hands with wonder. Strange, he should be more frightened, and almost everything until this moment was, but this... it felt so natural for him! Good even, like he had done it before. _'Is that how I suppose to feel?'_

 

 _ **''Have I done this before?''**_ Ben asked.

 

_**''Of course, does it bring any memories back?''** _

 

 _ **''No.''**_ He shook his head. _**''But it feels very familiar and ...calm.''**_

 

He could feel extra limbs, and decided to use them, Necrofriggian's wings became displayed in full glory. _'I HAVE WINGS! That is awesome, what else can I do?'_ He turned to Albedo, only to find out that other had already left his previous position, now he was standing over limp body of doctor Desmond. With a cold breath, doctor's body was swallowed by ice, leaving only head untouched.

 

_'Awesome, can I do it as well?'_

 

 _ **''Ultimatrix, scan us again, check if there is anything left.''**_ Albedo ordered.

 

Device obeyed, making Ben look down on his chest, only to find strange object attached to him there. **''Foreign objects are no longer present.''**

 

Albedo transformed back into human, satisfied. _'No need to waste energy.'_ He thought.

 

He motioned Ben to come near. ''Here is what I want you to do.''

 

They went down, using Necrofriggian's ability to go intangible. It took Ben couple of tries, but he could now use his alien body to fly and walk thru things, Albedo gave him instructions on how to do it. They stopped for a bit at each level to examine the facility, they saw giant creatures of different sizes, some marching around like soldiers, others being used as an energy source, each level stranger than previous one.

 

Ben was very content with following Albedo's orders without panic or distracting questions, he was more chill about their situation and his memory lose. Brunette could tell that it was because of this alien form, it made easier form him to control his emotions. He was more logical and calm in it, he understood the need to escape, and to do that he had to follow Albedo's orders. He held red eyed boy's hand as they phased thru another floor, straight into a large corridor.

 

A corridor made out of flesh, with cocoons in them... it's as if they were in a belly of a monster. _'What is this place?'_ They both thought to themselves.

 

Ben let go of other boy's hand as they became tangible, slowly landing on organic floor. He folded his wings around his body, once again gaining phantom like appearance. They both silently observed strange place for a minute, but when they turned around they found strangely dressed people ready to attack them 10 feet away. Green eyed alien wasted no time in standing between Albedo and group, making sure to keep white haired boy behind his body, ready to defend the other to best of his abilities.

 

''Who are you two?'' Red head in ridiculous yellow spandex suit asked.

 

Ben, who was feeling less awkward and uneasy in alien body, answered when Albedo stayed silent for too long. _**''I am ...Ben.''**_ He pointed at teen behind him. **''And he is Albedo.''**

 

Three boys exchanged looks before introducing themselves, while also staying ready for any kind of attack.

 

''Kid flash.''

 

''Robin.''

 

''Aqualad.''

 

Robin opened his mouth to speak, but was beaten to it by Albedo. ''They must be those three intruders yellow buckethead reported to Doctor Desmond about, am I correct?''

 

''...And if we are?'' Robin answered with a question of his own, Birdarangs ready in his hands.

 

Albedo shrugged and slowly started walking down the strange corridor. ''Come along, they are of no interest to us; They are as lost as we are.''

 

Ben reluctantly followed other boy, while still keeping an eye on now confused teens behind them. _**''Wouldn't cooperation with them be more helpful to our escape?''**_

 

Albedo shook his head. ''They would work better as baits, while Cadmus forces chase them around, we will escape undetected.'' _'And I had enough of annoying teenagers to last me a lifetime, courtesy of you and this body of mine.'_

 

''You know we can still hear you, right!?'' Kid flash called.

 

They didn't answer, clearly not listening to them. _'If Albedo doesn't like them, then neither do I.'_ Thought Ben.

 

Aqualad turned to Robin, lowering his water blades. ''They said they wanted to escape from Cadmus.''

 

Kid flash interjected. ''And use us as baits to do it!''

 

Robin ignored that and nodded, while putting away his Birdarangs. ''It seems that they are not part of Cadmus, maybe one of their experiments trying to escape?''

 

Aqualad considered. ''Could be. Should we follow them?''

 

''No?'' Kid mouth offered.

 

Robin nodded to Atlantean and turned to Kid Flash. ''They are heading towards same way we are going; Project Kr. But let's be careful just in case.''

 

Wally nodded with a sigh. This place was one weird shit after another.

 

They walked fast and caught up with other two in no time at all, walking besides them in uncomfortable silence. Albedo didn't even acknowledge them being there, Ben on the other hand kept a watchful eye on them, just in case they decided to attack. Alien tried to walk as close to his red eyed companion as possible.

 

''So...'' Robin began, glancing at blue moth like creature and albino teen. ''What are you two doing in Cadmus?''

 

Albedo answered with dry voice, keeping his gaze in front of him. ''Breaking out of it, obviously.''

 

Robin was about to respond to Albedo's non-answer when they stopped. The flesh corridor was split in two directions.

 

''Which way?'' Atlantean asked.

 

''Yeah, bizarre looking hallway one or bizarre looking hallway two?'' Robin added. He turned to Ben and Albedo. ''Any idea on which way to go?''

 

Albedo said nothing and Ben shook his head in negative, waiting for instructions from white haired boy, who looked like he was thinking about something very hard. Ben put his right hand on Albedo's shoulder.

 

Albedo's head snapped in his direction. _**''Are you alright?''**_

 

Ex-Galvan sighed. ''I was just thinking about-''

 

''Hold!'' Someone suddenly commanded them. That someone turned out to be a skinny humanoid Genomorph, it even wore clothes. It stood in bizarre looking hallway one, as Robin called it.

 

Ben almost immediately grabbed Albedo with both of his arms and turned intangible, flying into bizarre looking hallway two, with Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad left behind. He heard explosions, but paid it no mind, he had to find a secure place to protect white haired boy.

 

He quickly came across a thick door marked as Project Kr. Effortlessly phasing thru it, he let go of startled Albedo, and scanned the room for possible danger. His green eyes landed on a dark skinned woman with glasses, her lab coat making it obvious that she worked here.

 

Blue alien flew towards her with animalistic growl and open wings, making her collapse backwards in terror. He stopped just in front of her face, making her stare at his insect like form. **''Get out, now!''**

 

She didn't need to be ordered twice, standing up fast, she dashed towards door controls. Once door opened enough for her to fit, she ran like there was no tomorrow.

 

Albedo observed all this with emotionless expression, but on inside, he was anything but. Human's actions were most unusual, not only did he leave those teens in danger, but he also acted like this. Something Ben Tennyson wouldn't normally do. _'Is amnesia cause of this?'_ Perhaps alien's instincts were taking charge cuz Ben's human mind had no memories to fall back on.

 

Once door opened fully, Albedo went to door controls and put his Galvan intellect and knowledge to good use by closing and disabling it with his ring, now it could only be opened from the inside. Then he ordered Ben to put good amount of ice on the door.

 

As Ben was busy doing that, red eyed boy decided to further explore the room. Going near computer, he pushed few buttons curiously and illuminated darkened area in front of him. Light revealed a pod, within it was a black haired teen dressed in white bodysuit with symbol 'S' on the front.

 

 _'Another teenager?!'_ Albedo almost shouted in exasperation. It was official, Cadmus was the worst place he had ever visited.

 

_**''What is that?!''** _

 

He turned his head towards Ben who was floating just behind him, his wings closed once more. Looking past human's current blue form, he saw door reinforced with thick layers of ice, just as he ordered. Listening and actually doing what Albedo told him to do, another thing non-amnesic Ben would not normally do.

 

''Let us find out.'' He muttered to himself and started hacking. Even without proper equipment, ( _'Ring is hardly a tool fit for such things, its hacking is mostly for simple electronic locks'_ ) he was able to get past firewalls in a minute... Albedo frowned, even with omnipresent human stupidity, it was too easy. Device was complex enough to put up a challenge... So why didn't it? ... _'As if someone tried their very best to make it easy to hack this machine.'_

 

Information appeared on a computer monitor. Albedo read it out loud. ''Weapon designation: Superboy. A clone force grown in 16 weeks...'' Albedo paused for a moment; No way humans didn't butcher this one up. Force growing something so fast usually resulted in defects. ''It says that DNA was acquired form someone called Superman?'' Was it a code name for something?

 

 _ **''Those creatures inside, what is their purpose?''**_ Ben suddenly asked, his arms crossed as he observed them. Albedo frowned and almost slapped himself when he noticed what green eyed human meant, how could he miss that?! There were 3 Genomorphs in the pod as well, right above black haired clone's head. They seemed to be dormant for the moment. He started looking thru data to find what those creatures were for. ''Here it is...'' His frown deepened as he read.

 

_**''Is something wrong?''** _

 

Albedo nodded. ''Yes, those creatures are telepathic, they are force feeding him an education, It would be a good way to educate young mind fast... but considering everything we have seen of Cadmus so far...''

 

Ben got what he meant and how bad it was.

 

He levitated towards the pod and titled his head. _**''If those creatures are telepathic, and from what we have seen, they are, then the ones on the outside can contact the ones on the inside, and if their evident telepathic abilities can do more than just 'educate'... We might not be able to escape.''**_

 

Albedo opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out... Ben Tennyson had a point, a well made, argumentative point. Which made Ex-Galvan angry at himself for not being as observant on that front. _'He is more rational and collected than I thought he would be... is it because of Necrofriggians being more psychologically resilient?... Just how much is transformation affecting your mind?'_ ''...Good point.'' He forced himself to say it. ''But you do not have to worry about us being mind controlled or anything like that, Ultmiatrix has means of preventing that.'' _'Why does new feature on Ultimatrix also extend on me is an issue I have to think about later... If I am right...'_ He didn't finish that thought.

 

 _ **''That is good to know, but what about him?''**_ He pointed at teen in the pod. _**''You said he was a weapon, and we already know he is being 'educated' by those things, should I destroy those creatures in case they decide to give him an 'extracurricular activity' against us?''**_

 

Realization settled in Albedo's mind, followed by fast. ''Yes!''

 

Ben sprung to action at given command, phasing thru pods and freezing little Genmorphs in their own little pods. He then flew away from pod and settled near Albedo.

 

Who was lost for words, staring at Ben like he was 10th wonder of galaxy. There was too much happening at the same time, and most, if not all of it had to wait until he got himself out of this dreaded facility. Ex-Glavan gave a tired sigh, a bit of relaxation would be very much welcome. _'Chilli fries and foolish earth TV would be nice, but I have to be here planning escape with Ben Tennyson of all beings. At least it can't get worse.'_

 

Next thing he saw made him want to scream his lungs out, pod holding a weapon/clone was opening.

 

 _ **''Did you do that?''**_   Voice behind him asked, just as alarmed as he felt.

 

Albedo took a step back from the machine, almost bumping into Ben, who thankfully moved in front of him in a protective stance.

 

''N-No! It opened on its own, someone from the outside must have a remote way of activating it.''

 

Pod slowly opened and teen inside started to move, only to take few messy steps before collapsing on his knees.

 

''...''

 

Ben whispered to Albedo. _**''Maybe we should try to talk to him?''**_

 

Albedo nodded after a thought, he was curious on what humans created. ''But if he attacks us...''

 

 **''We'll flee.''** Ben finished for him.

 

They moved closer to kneeling teen. _**''Are you alright?''**_

 

His head snapped up; He glared at other two. Albedo started doubting if it was a good idea.

 

_**''Can you understand us?''** _

 

Superboy just kept glaring.

 

And it was at that time when Ultimatrix started beeping in familiar noise, Albedo cursed himself for forgetting that Ben didn't have master control anymore. In a flash of red light, blue alien was replaced with very confused brunette.

 

Ben looked at Albedo for answers, but it was Superboy who asked the question. ''What was that?''

 

''So you CAN talk?'' Brunette and Albedo said at the same time.

 

''Yes, I can.'' Superboy said with a scowl, as if offended by the question.

 

''So those things can actually teach.'' Albedo murmured. ''How much do you know about yourself?''

 

Superboy stiffened, suddenly standing up like a soldier. ''I'm the Superboy. A genomorph, a clone made from the DNA of Superman. Created to replace him should he perish. To destroy him should he turn from the light.''

 

That got raised eyebrows from two look-alikes.

 

 _'Well, part of Genomorph 'education' I suppose.'_ Albedo thought. ''Anything besides that? What more can you say about yourself, besides the fact that you are not a complete illiterate?''

 

Superboy stayed silent.

 

''Have you ever been outside your little pod before?'' White haired boy pressed.

 

Silence from Superboy continued, glare in clone's eyes said it all.

 

''Who's superman?'' Ben's innocent question cut the tension Albedo hadn't noticed before.

 

Clone stopped glaring, looking genuinely confused. ''...You don't know who superman is?''

 

Both Albedo and Ben shook their heads in 'No'.

 

''He's a hero, one of the most famous members of justice league?''

 

''And justice league is?'' Ben asked.

 

''How do you not know what justice league is?!'' Clone exclaimed, looking between the two. ''This is my first time outside that pod, and I know more than you... What are you two even doing in Cadmus?''

 

''Escaping form it.'' Former Galvan beat Ben to whatever he was going to say. Or so he hoped.

 

''Wanna come with us?''

 

Albedo glared at Ben, who only smiled. ''What? It could have been us in pods like that or worse, do you really want to let anyone live like that?''

 

White haired boy thought about it, and sighed. ''I suppose you are right.'' He gazed at thoughtful Superboy. ''What do you say? Do you want be free?''

 

''...Cadmus is my home.'' Superboy said, indecision clear in his voice, he sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

 

''No'' Albedo denied. ''Cadmus is your cage. For them you are just another experiment. Just a tool in a basement, not relevant until that Superman person is out of game, and even then, do you think they would give you a free will? No, you will be their pet, to do with you as they please.''

 

He walked towards Superboy, it's not like what he said was a lie, he was sure Cadmus would abuse Superboy with no regards to his life, but he was using situation to his advantage. ''If you help us escape, you will finally be free.'' He extended his right hand.

 

Superboy looked cautiously at his hand.

 

Ben was suddenly besides him, grinning. ''Besides, don't you want to meet Superman? Guy is practically you father ...I think. Even if you don't want to meet him, there is a whole world out there. It's simple, a pod and slavery, or a world and freedom. It's your choice, we don't care either way.''

 

 _'Yeah, smelly teenage, human bodies, disgusting addiction to fast food, it is a dream come true. Maybe life in pod is not that bad...'_   Albedo thought, remembering his own experience.

 

Superboy glared back at his pod and after moment of arguing with himself, took the hand and shook it, determination clear in his eyes. ''I want out of Cadmus.''

 

''Great!'' Ben cheered, beaming a smile at Albedo who only replied with blank expression. ''Um... can you turn me into that blue thing again?''

 

Albedo checked the Ultimatrix. ''No, it is in recharge mode. Once it is green again, you will be able to transform.''

 

''How long will that be?''

 

''I do not know.''

 

Suddenly, vibration went thru entire room. Their eyes snapped to ice reinforced door, it didn't take them long to realize that Cadmus forces were working on getting in.

 

''You do have a plan, right?'' Superboy asked.

 

Albedo said nothing. ''...It's a work in progress.'' Ben answered instead.

 

''Seriously?!''

 

Green eyed boy nodded apologetically and turned to Albedo.

 

''What if we help those guys we met on the way here?'' Ben offered. ''If we are taking Superboy with us, they might also want to tag along.''

 

 _'Great, more teenage humans.'_ But he had no plan that was better, he was also mentally exhausted even before being captured by Cadmus. Ex-Galvan would have to extend an alliance to them too... if they were still alive that is. ''Let us do that then.''

 

Albedo transformed into Necrofriggian.

 

''So cool!'' Ben murmured. Superboy looked impressed as well.

 

He grabbed both Ben and Superboy and made them intangible. They passed thru walls, avoiding outside forces that were gathered near lab door.

 

While Cadmus forces were trying to break in an empty room, they were searching for other teens. Turns out, they were on the same floor, down the bizarre looking hallway one; Their screams of pain were easy to follow.

 

Easily passing thru metal door, they found them captured inside pods -This facility had lots of those-, their hands and feet bound with metal restrains, and Iron appendages were piercing their chests while also letting out high voltage of electricity.

 

Albedo let go of Superboy and Ben, gaining solid form. There were only two Cadmus scientists in the room, one was standing at the controls, other one was observing progress near him, both had their backs turned to them, being unaware until Albedo froze them with an icy breath.

 

Red eyed teen flew to controls and deactivated the pods, electricity torture stopped and pods opened up, but metal restrains on them remained deadlocked. _**''Superboy, free them.''**_

 

''Don't give me orders.'' Superboy growled, but went to do what he was told anyway. Ben just stayed behind Albedo.

 

To everyone's surprise, Robin freed himself before Superboy could start. ''Finally! Lucky Batman isn't here, he'd have my head for taking so long.'' He commented while rubbing his sore wrists and eyeing Superboy.

 

''Seriously, that's what you are worried about? The whole league will have our heads after tonight!'' Kid flash said with worry.

 

Robin just shrugged and turned to Superboy. ''Free Aqualad, I'll get Kid mouth.''

 

''Don't you give me orders either.'' Superboy snarled at him, but once again did as he was told. He tore off restrains and helped him down, the Atlantean thanked him with a kind smile.

 

Robin freed Kid Flash a moment later. Ginger head hero turned to Superboy. ''Thanks, man... what's your name again?''

 

Superboy paused, looking uneasy. _**''He calls himself Superboy.''**_   Albedo cut in as he and Ben walked towards them, stopping by Superboy's side, while other heroes stood in front of them.

 

However, It seemed that Aqualad was still recovering; Hunched over and panting.

 

Robin raised an eyebrow. ''Interesting name.''

 

''I'm the Superboy. A genomorph, a clone made from the DNA of Superman. Created to replace him should he perish. To destroy him should he turn from the light.''

 

Albedo and Ben both frowned at the repeated response.

 

But other heroes were more than surprised. ''YOU ARE WHAT?!''

 

Especially Kid Flash. ''Kr... does it stand for Krypton? So you are Project Kr?!''

 

Superboy just glared at ginger.

 

''Not anymore.'' Ben spoke up. ''He wants to escape Cadmus too.''

 

Kid Flash and his friends observed Ben with strange looks. ''Wasn't your hair white?'' Ginger boy asked. ''And your eyes were different color as well...''

 

Ben looked confused. ''What are you talking abo-''

 

 _ **''Never mind that.''**_   Albedo all but hissed, no time for useless banter. He transformed back into his human form.

 

Robin looked between Ben and Albedo. ''I see.'' He said. ''Cool.'' He added with a smile. Others showed understanding on their faces too, only one confused was Ben.

 

Albedo decided to get it over with and began. ''Since you three were useless as baits, we decided that maybe alliance would work better.''

 

Kid Flash snorted disbelievingly. ''Yeah, after you left us the moment we were attacked.'' He accused.

 

Robin nodded to him. ''Yeah, what was up with that?''

 

Ben frowned, avoiding eye contact with everyone.

 

Superboy raised an eyebrow.

 

Aqualad just looked up with curious look before straightening up.

 

''Ben Tennyson is not in combat condition, he lost his memories, he simply did what his instincts told him to do at the time; He retreated. His actions took me by surprise as well, he is usually far more precipitate.'' Albedo half lied. _'Tolerate human stupidity.'_ He told told himself repeatedly in his mind.

 

Ben gave him a grateful look, which Albedo missed like it wasn't even there.

 

''Ah, sorry about that.'' Robin said with sincerity.

 

''Yeah, must suck.'' Kid Flash added with an awkward smile.

 

''It does.'' Ben said quietly, while still avoiding direct eye contact.

 

''You didn't tell me about memory lose.'' Superboy muttered to himself.

 

Aqualad, who seemed to have fully recovered from previous electric torture, decided to speak up. ''We are grateful for your help, and we accept your offer of getting out of this place together.''

 

''Yeah, the league must be informed about this place.'' Kid Flash agreed.

 

Albedo gave a tired smile. ''You do know the way out, right?'' He asked.

 

Robin nodded. ''Just follow u-''

 

Door opened and Genomorph-elves barged in led by the guardian -Who had a little Geno sitting comfortably on his shoulder- and ...''Doctor Desmond?'' Ben recognized. Which was not an easy thing to do, doctor's face was even worse than before, lips and eye turned purple, nose not doing much better, he had a white blanket wrapped around him and shivers from his body indicated that he was fresh out of ice bath Albedo gave him; Ben wouldn't be surprised if he got a frostbite. One eye that was not as damaged glared at them in fury.

 

''YOU!''

 

Albedo rolled his eyes. ''Great timing, doctor Desmond, back for more of what I gave you?''

 

''Who's that? And why does he look like he just pissed off Batman and Mister Freeze at the same time?'' Robin asked as he readied his Birdarangs.

 

Albedo smirked. ''He's in charge of Cadmus, explains why this place is such a mess.'' He crossed his arms and extended his mocking grin.

 

That seemed to anger already furious doctor even more. ''Why you-Super boy, take them down!'' He snarled.

 

Superboy glared at doctor with hate. ''I'm not your fucking dog.'' He snarled back and moved forward a bit.

 

''We'll see about that, you belong to me... well, Cadmus, same thing, you will do as you are told!'' A small Genomorph jumped on doctor Desmond's head out of nowhere, making doctor flinch in pain a bit, it seemed he had head injuries too. Genomorph's horns glowed and Superboy felt intrusion in his mind. ''Get out of my head!''

 

Robin got what was up and threw smoke bombs at the enemy, causing black smoke to spread in the room. ''Out, now!'' He shouted and ran towards the exist while his opponents were distracted, but not before throwing explosive Birdarangs at the pods and grabbing Superboy to help him out. They escaped explosion in a step out of the room, force of which made him fall down with Superboy beside him.

 

''Are you alright?''

 

Boy wonder looked up to see Ben looking down on him with worry. ''Yeah, no problem, just being whelmed.''

 

Brunette helped him and Superboy up. Albedo, Kid Flash, and Aqualad were not far away, taking care of remaining Genos nearby... well, Kid and Aqualad were, Albedo was just observing them curiously.

 

''That's the last one.'' Kid Flash announced as he knocked out the last one.

 

They were about to make a run for it when coughing doctor Desmond emerged from the smoke, being helped by the Guardian. They both collapsed and gasped for breath. Without his white blanket to cover his body, there were visible blood stains on his clothes. ''You'' -cough!- ''will- not... You will no be going anywhere.'' He hissed out.

 

Kid Flash smirked. ''Yeah? Who will stop us?''

 

''I will.'' Determined doctor stated, this time not chocking on smoke. He even managed to stand a bit.

 

Albedo turned to Robin and whispered. '' _He is trying to distract us_.''

 

Younger agreed and was about to say that they should go when Kid Flash arrogantly asked. ''You and what army?''

 

Doctor Desmond smirked, not bothered from obvious pain it brought to his beaten face. ''I just ordered activation of every Genomorph in Cadmus, thanks to this little guy.'' A small Geno jumped on his shoulder out of smoke, its horns were glowing.

 

Teens's eyes went wide and they dashed towards elevator, Ben and Albedo close behind. Desmond didn't lie, Genos were activating, slowly emerging from cocoons in the walls. ''We are still 51 levels below the ground.'' Aqualad shouted to Robin.

 

 _'We were going in opposite direction?! No wonder we couldn't find a way out.'_   Albedo almost shouted as he and Ben followed other teens.

 

While they were fleeing down the corridor and towards the elevator, they were stopped by giant Geno-Trolls as other smaller Genos crowded behind, cutting possible retreat options. Albedo scowled and glanced at Ultimatrix on Ben's arm. _'Still in recharge mode.'_

 

He transformed into Necrofriggian and was about to grab Ben when Superboy charged at giant creatures with what Albedo assumed was a war cry. It was surprisingly effective, he was able to toss those giant creatures around with amazing strength, and his durability more than made up against their attacks. That gave group an opening they needed to elevator. A chance they used momentarily.

 

Aqualad tore elevator doors open, and motioned others to get in.

 

Meanwhile, Superboy was in fight/rage mode, not hearing Aqualad's calls to retreat while beating back increasing number of Genomorphs in the hallway. Ex-Galvan told to Aqualad and Ben. _**''Go, we will be on our way in a moment.''**_

 

Against his better judgement, Albedo flew fast in front of Superboy with his wings open, and used his ice breath to freeze the corridor in ice. After he was done, wall of ice stood in Genomorphs's way. Ex-Galvan turned to now calmer Superboy and hissed out. _**''This will hold them for a little while, now cool your head down and do not fall behind, I am not kind enough to help you twice.''**_

 

He didn't bother to see a reaction or listen if Superboy had anything to say. He flew back to elevator... With Ben Tennyson still not inside the elevator shaft! _**''You are still here?!''**_ Did he not have any self-preservation senses?! _'Compared to how he acted when transformed... this is a mess.'_

 

Ben only nodded with a smile. Why in the name of science was he smiling?! _'Did he also lose his mind along with his memories?'_ Albedo wondered.

 

''I told Aqualad to go ahead.'' Green eyed boy said.

 

Deciding that contemplation of human stupidity in his situation was crazy, he grabbed brunette with his left hand, and was about to take off when his right hand was grabbed by Superboy.

 

 _'What is he?...'_ He jumped up into the elevator shaft with other teens already pretty far up there, and nearly caught up with them when gravity took its own. Thankfully, Albedo had firm hold on both Ben and Superboy, and using the ability of his alien form, he was able to keep them all floating up. _**''What was that supposed to be?''**_

 

Superboy was too dumbfounded to register his question, only muttering to himself. ''Superman can fly. Why can't I fly?''

 

They were now caught up with the group as they were climbing -In their case, flying- up. _**''Focus on escaping.''**_ Albedo reminded to half-human clone.

 

''Guys, this will have to be our exist!'' Robin shouted in alarm. The reason for said alarm was elevator that was descending towards them very fast. They smashed the doors on nearest level to pieces and got out before they could be squashed by it.

 

Albedo let go of two teens and transformed back into human, he couldn't hold that form too long. He gritted his teeth, now he had to rely on others for fighting power.

 

But problems just kept coming! Annoying amount of Genomorphs were waiting for them on that floor, and all other floors. Group made a hasty retreat down one of the corridors, not wanting to be stuck in exhausting fight with numerically superior enemy. But after aimlessly running down corridor after corridor, Albedo had to ask. ''Do any of you actually know a way?''

 

''Go left!'' Kryptonian clone shouted.

 

Whole group obeyed without question and turned left.

 

''Right'' Superboy shouted again.

 

Group obeyed once more, only to be greeted by dead-end.

 

''Great directions, Supey! You trying to get us repodded?'' Irritated speedster asked, sounding very angry.

 

Superboy looked startled and confused. ''No, I... I don't understand.''

 

''Maybe we can still go ba-'' Ben started before being interrupted.

 

''What are you talking about? This is perfect!'' Robin announced with a smile on his lips. Group followed boy wonder's line of sight and quickly realized what he meant when ventilation shaft came in their view. They swiftly entered their fortuitous escape route.

 

Now they were crawling thru small space. ''If enemy catches us here, we are done for.'' Albedo thought out loud to himself.

 

''No worries, I hacked their systems and deactivated their internal security cameras.'' Robin said, though he was ahead of Albedo and Ben, with Aqualad, Kid Flash and Superboy between them, they could all practically hear smirk in his voice. ''I also messed with motion sensors and sent them in wrong direction.'' He added.

 

''They are in the vents, I can hear them,'' Superboy said. ''But they are going in opposite direction from us.'' He confirmed.

 

Everyone was impressed. Especially Albedo, it seemed that alliance with those strange humans was far more fruitful than he anticipated.

 

After few minutes of moving thru vents, they finally got out, back into the corridors. They looked around, there was no sign of Genomorphs. ''We have to be swift, Robin's sagacious ploy can only buy us so much time.'' Albedo declared.

 

''No problem, because now I've finally got room to move.'' Kid flash said cockily as he put on his goggles. Moving with his super speed, he lead the charge. Soon after finding the right door, they were fighting their way up a staircase, with dozens of Genomorphs coming down the stairs to stop them, along with even more of them following in teens's footsteps from behind. So they had to fight on two fronts.

 

Kid Flash was cleaning up the road ahead by being a human cannonball with his speed. Aqualad, Robin, Ben and Albedo were in the middle, finishing off Genomorphs that were not knocked out by the speedster. And Superboy was behind to keep the following enemies at bay with his super strength.

 

Ben and Albedo were unable to transform into aliens (A fact which vexed them both), but they were helping by pushing, kicking, and punching the enemy that slipped thru towards them, other than that, they left most of the work to others.

 

It was a losing battle, Albedo realized as he felt exhaustion, and damned stairs seemed endless! Ben didn't look much better. Albedo remembered that neither of them had nutrition for at least day and a half... While they were captured by Cadmus.

 

Once again, familiar anger seethed in Albedo. He wanted to tear this place apart... _'Wait... tear apart!'_   ''Superboy, the stairs behind us, demolish it!''

 

Clone's eyes widened in understanding as he punched away another Genomorph or two. He grabbed the staircase that enemy was using and ripped it clean off the wall, causing it to collapse on Genomorphs. Now that enemies from behind were no immediate threats, Aqualad and Robin moved ahead to help speedster clean the way.

 

Ben and Albedo were finally able to catch a short break, both of them leaning on the wall for support while taking deep breaths.

 

''Are you two alright?'' Superboy asked, eyeing them with worry.

 

''Yeah, just... tired.'' Ben said, panting.

 

Superboy nodded. ''Why didn't you turn into that blue thing with wings?''

 

Ben shrugged and directed his gaze at Albedo, who upon noticing that both teens were waiting for him to answer that, scoffed. ''It does not work like that, and there is no time for me to explain how it works.''

 

Superboy and Ben accepted the answer, but former was not done being annoyance to Albedo. He grabbed both Ben and his look-alike and carried them over his shoulders, as if they were potato sacks.

 

''Put me down this instant!'' Albedo protested and struggled to no avail.

 

''What are you doing?'' Ben asked, being far calmer than white haired boy.

 

''You two are tired and we still have more stairs to go.'' Superboy answered. He took both of them to sublevel one in less than 2 minutes, with Albedo being very vocal on letting him down the whole time.

 

''So undignified.'' Red eyed boy muttered as he was finally let down, his arms crossed.

 

Ben looked very amused by his reaction, as did Superboy.

 

Albedo narrowed his red eyes. ''What are you two looking at... And where are others, shouldn't they be done by now?''

 

That did cause a concern. They looked around and found trail of knocked out Genomorphs.

 

Three looked at each other and followed the trail, some of the corridors seemed to be blocked by steel doors, strong enough to not be moved even by Superboy's strength.

 

''I have a feeling that we are being led into a trap.'' Ben voiced what they were feeling.

 

''That.'' Superboy pointed at the floor. Red and green eyes followed direction his hand was pointing towards.

 

''Isn't that Aqua guy's weapon?'' Ben asked as he picked two metal devices up.

 

' _Definitely a trap.'_   Albedo thought. He was about to suggest going in opposite direction when Superboy called out.

 

''Follow me!'' Half-Kryptonian took off in direction Albedo wanted to avoid.

 

''What?! Wait!'' Albedo shouted and ran after him, Ben following close behind. With Ultimatrix in recharge mode and Albedo being unable to transform, Superboy was their only defense, walking around without him was asking to be captured... _'So is running into what most likely is a trap.'_   Albedo thought grimly.

 

Clone was fast, catching up with him was a tedious task, but they did.

 

If Albedo wasn't so physically exhausted from all the running, he would punch something. They found other teens on the floor, Superboy was standing over them, with Ben and Albedo behind him.

 

Turns out, it was a trap!

 

They were surrounded by Gemomorphs of every size, from small ones that could control minds, to giant ones that could crush them both with a single punch. Even humanoid one that they encountered before was there, its horns glowing.

 

 _'They have control of Superboy!'_ Teens thought with alarm.

 

Albedo was furious, he could not see any way out of this for them. He felt Ben grab his right arm with both of his hands, looking back at brunette, he saw how scared he was; Green eyes full of fright and ...hope?

 

 _'But what can I do?'_   White haired boy asked himself. He wanted to scream, to tell the other to stop looking at him with those eyes! ...But he could not bring himself to say it.

 

He himself felt fear. It did nothing but increase his rage, he should not be feeling fear like a silly human! He should be using his superior mind to find a way out of this mess.

 

'' _Can we use the watch?_ '' Ben whispered behind him.

 

Albedo stole a glanced at Ben's wrist and scoffed. ''Ultimatrix.'' He corrected. ''And no, it's in recharge mo...'' He stopped as idea came to him, it was crazy, maybe crazy enough to work. _'It worked against me.'_

 

He steadied himself and took a deep breath, he had to play it right. If he was to fail, Cadmus would not be kind to them; Doctor Desmond would make good on his threats. Ex-Galvan shuddered at the thought.

 

''Ultimatrix, self-destruct in sixty seconds, command code zero, zero, zero, destruct, zero.''

 

 **''Self destruct in 60 seconds.''** Device announced and started beeping.

 

''What did you do!?'' Ben cried out, letting go of his hand and taking a step back; He felt betrayed.

 

Albedo ignored him and took a confident step towards Superboy, who had already turned around when he heard what Albedo did. ''What are you doing!?''

 

Red eyed boy ignored him as well and directed his gaze behind Superboy, to the humanoid Genomorph who looked just as shocked as two other teens, glow of his horns no longer present.

 

''I started Ultimatrix self-destruct sequence, fulmination will be powerful enough to damage this planet, I am the only one who can stop it.'' He informed matter-of-factly. ''Release my consociates and leave.'' He ordered, voice firm and eyes unblinking.

 

''Wait, you misunderstood, think of what you are doing!'' Humanoid Genomorph pleaded.

 

''Stop this!'' Superboy shouted. ''They are trying to help.''

 

Albedo remind impassive, Ultimatrix's beeping was getting louder and faster behind him. ''You have less than 40 seconds to release Superboy from your telepathic control.''

 

''We are not controlling him!'' Genomorph all but shouted in desperation.

 

Superboy launched at him, aggressively grabbing him by the red jacket and lifting him up. ''They are not controlling me, stop this madness right now!''

 

Three other boys gained consciousness, lifting themselves from the floor. ''What's happening?'' Robin asked, confused and alarmed.

 

''He's going to kill us all!'' Superboy growled back without taking his eyes off Albedo.

 

''What!?'' Three shouted simultaneously.

 

Albedo once again ignored raging half-Kryptonian in front of him, choosing to address Genomorph instead. ''You have less than 20 seconds, leave now.'' Red eyes full of resolution, daring them to disobey. ''Leave and survive or die with this worthless planet, choice is simple.''

 

Genomorphs heeded his words and started running, corridors becoming empty in matter of seconds as Ultimatrix's noise became more ominous.

 

''You got what you wanted, now stop the countdown!'' Superboy yelled in his face.

 

Albedo let out a breath, his expression looking tired but relieved. ''Abut that...''

 

Beeping stopped. **''Self-destruction canceled.''**

 

Superboy let go of him, previous anger being overridden by confusion. ''What did you-''

 

Albedo turned to Ben, who looked white as a paper. ''I do not have the authority to order Ultimatrix self-destruction, even if I did, I do not have required code, the one I used was old, it was only good for starting a countdown, no explosion was going to take place.'' Ex-Galvan explained softly. ''It was subterfuge.'' He added.

 

''Anyone wants to tell us what's happening?'' Kid Flash asked.

 

Albedo sighed and turned back to teens behind him. ''You were captured, I acted, you are rescued. Let's focus on getting out o-''

 

Before he could finish, he felt another body bug him from behind, Ex-Galvan suddenly felt another heartbeat, way faster than his own. It was obvious that brunette was terrified.

 

Silence reigned supreme for a short moment.

 

It was broken by Atlantean's concerned voice. ''Is he alright?''

 

Albedo shook his head. ''He lost his memories, only one he trusts right now is... me, and I just scared him to death.''

 

''It's okay.'' Ben said, face still buried in Albedo's back. ''It just... scarred me. I should have trusted you more.'' Hug became stronger, as if apologizing.

 

''It is alright, I was counting on your reaction. If it was not genuine, they would have caught on my charade.'' Albedo dismissed. ''You played your part with ample accuracy.''

 

Other teens observed interaction silently, letting white haired boy calm down frightened teen.

 

Ben calmed down, he let go of Albedo and avoided everyone's gaze.

 

''Let's go before Genomorphs return, I doubt they will fall for my deception second time.'' Albedo proposed.

 

''There was no need for it in the first place!'' Superboy said with a glare.

 

''You were being controlled by them.'' Albedo said dismissively.

 

''I was not, they were trying to help us!''

 

Albedo raised an eyebrow. ''By kidnapping and cornering us? Did they feed you inaccurate definition of word 'help' while you were in your pod?''

 

Superboy only glared harder at him. Luckily, before situation could get more out of hand, Aqualad intervened. ''I can't say I know what's happening, but escape should be our priority, league shall take care of the rest.''

 

''I believe I can help with that.'' A voice behind them said.

 

It was the humanoid Genomorph again. Before anyone could attack, Superboy jumped in front of them. ''He is on our side.''

 

Creature only nodded. ''I deactivated defenses, go while you can, we shall take care of Doctor Desmond.''

 

''I think not.'' Another voice called behind the creature. It was Desmond, looking worse than before, but crazed look in his one visible eyes was enough to put everyone on edge. ''I shall not stand for this, project blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus.''

 

By the time they noticed a test tube with bluish liquid in doctor's hand, it was already too late, Desmond drank every drop of that strange fluid. The result was immediate, his body convulsed violently, terrible sounds of bones breaking and reforming made everyone take a step back. Desmond's screams of pain became harsher and louder, quickly taking more and more animalistic tone. Clothes and human skin were torn apart by growing form underneath them, hair on his head falling with them. When gruesome transformation was done, the being before them was not human anymore.

 

A gray skinned giant with ripped remains of ...its human skin hanging on its body and small/round gleaming red eyes, was nothing but a monster.

 

Superboy attacked first, -others wisely kept distance from the fight- only to be slammed into the floor with a single punch, he quickly got up and managed to punch the monster couple of times before being thrown in the air with a kick. Beast jumped up and slammed into Superboy mid air, making both of them smash thru the roof.

 

''Okay, that's one way to bust thru the ceiling.'' Robin commented and fired his grapple hook gun, intending to follow them thru the newly formed exit in the ceiling.

 

''You think lab coat planned that?'' Ginger head asked as he grabbed Robin's hand. Both of them followed Superboy to fight the monster.

 

''I doubt he's planning anything anymore.'' Aqualad said to himself and turned to Ben and Albedo, humanoid Genomorph being behind them too. ''Can you two transform?''

 

Albedo slowly shook his head in negative. ''Not yet.''

 

''Then keep distance from the fight.'' Aqualad instructed and was about to follow his friends in a fight against the monster, when Ben stopped him.

 

''Wait! I almost forgot, here.'' He took out two metal devices from the pockets of his green jacket and handed them to Atlantean.

 

Aqualad stared at his water-bearers for a second, before looking at Ben and giving him a grateful: ''Thank you.''

 

Ben just waved it off with a smile and watched as Aqualad went up to help his friends.

 

Meanwhile, red eyed boy stared at remains of human skin on the floor, disgusted look on his face clear as a day.

 

Taking note of that, Ben asked. ''Are you alright?''

 

Albedo redirected his gaze on him, voice full of contempt. ''He gave up who he was so easily.'' Then the tone of his voice turned into pained confusion. ''Why did he do that? Why give up on your form so effortlessly? Even if it is a human form, it's who you are... Why?''

 

''Doctor Desmond is... was a man with obsessions, he saw Cadmus -his work- as himself, and now that it's all but destroyed, he did something-''

 

''Extremely foolish and arrogant.'' Albedo finished for Genomorph, before turning around to assess him. ''I take it that Superboy was right about you being on our side?''

 

Creature nodded, while carefully evaluating two humans before him. ''Superboy is a bridge between our worlds, a chance for freedom and peace for Genomorphs. I started the fire to get Cadmus noticed by the justice league, directed Superboy when you were lost, even messed with Superboy's pod to make it easier to hack... among other things. Not everything went according to plan, before I could put it in action, you two appeared in Cadmus, making us delay the plan, and instead of justice league, I got their sidekicks...'' Genomoph shook his head, but his eyes never left strange boys before him. ''Who are you two?''

 

Ben shrugged, being disturbingly nonchalant. ''I have no idea, no memories, only made it so far because I trust Albedo.''

 

Genomorph titled his head, waiting for white haired boy to clarify things.

 

Albedo had other plans, he felt energy return to him, he transformed in a flash of red.

 

Genomorph took a step back in shock, while Ben watched with excitement. Before them stood a giant humanoid creature, with red skin, four arms and four eyes.

 

''Awesome!''

 

Albedo frowned and looked down on his hands, all four of them. ''Tetramand, huh. Not the one I wanted, but I suppose it will do.''

 

Ben blinked. ''Where you aiming for something else? Can I do that too? How many of those things can we transform in?''

 

Albedo just scowled. ''Too many questions, Ben Tennyson, none of them require my immediate attention.'' Not wanting to waste time of his transformation, he jumped up thru the hole in the roof.

 

Ben was left there, standing with the shocked Genomorph. ''He... left me.''

 

Genomorph gathered himself back. ''He'll be back, you are safer here.''

 

Ben jumped back from him, looking panicked and downright terrified. As if Genomorph before him suddenly became the most terrifying creature in the room, that confused the Geno greatly. Green eyes glared at him, he took couple of steps back to give teen more space to calm down. ''I mean you no harm.'' He even held up his hands in surrender.

 

Ben did not look any calmer, he went for the Ultimatrix, not even looking at what he was selecting.

 

In a flash of green light, there was no teen to be seen, instead, there was a fire-based life form whose body was composed of yellow inner magma, it was covered by dark red and brown rocks all over its body and... was that a face? It looked like a creature from hell, only thing that looked out of places was that symbol on its chest.

 

Heat Pyronite radiated was enormous. Genomorph was left standing there, frozen in fear at the sight of fire creature, he could practically taste anger and fear coming off of it. ''Ben Tennyson... was it?'' He tried, to check if the boy was still there.

 

It only snarled at him and flew up, using blast of flames at the ground, straight thru hole in the ceiling.

 

\---

 

The sound of fighting was heard clearly, Albedo arrived just in time to see Kid Flash and Robin get knocked out, one laying on top of another, Superboy being pounded into a pillar, and Aqualad nearby trying stand while coughing up blood.

 

He ran to Atlantean. ''I'll distract it, you get Kid Flash and Robin and think of a plan.''

 

Aqualad looked up in confusion. ''Who... are you?''

 

He started walking towards the fight where Superboy managed to get on creature's head and deliver punches from there. ''Albedo.'' He said simply.

 

''How did yo-''

 

Four eyed creature snapped at him. ''No time, this one is not strong enough to defeat this creature; I can't maintain it for too long!''

 

He took off towards the creature that used to be Doctor Desmond, it noticed his approach and threw Superboy at him.

 

Ex-Galvan dodged living projectile with a spin, quickly covering the distance between him and it, and using two of his right arms to punch monster in the face. It stumbled back, momentarily disoriented. Not wasting the momentum, he used two of his left hands to grab creature's left arm to keep it in place. Then he proceeded to attack it with two other arms.

 

With Albedo's Tetramand form being almost as tall as the monster itself, it was easier for him to land attacks. But defeating it was not that easy, it used its free right arm and punched Albedo straight in the stomach.

 

The attack sent Albedo backwards, but he was grabbed by the leg mid air. The monster yanked him back and kept punching him in the face repeatedly.

 

Before Albedo could retaliate, sudden wave of heat made itself known; Giant ball of flames was thrown at the creature from behind.

 

Ex-Doctor roared -more in surprise than pain- as abnormal heat of flames collided with its unguarded back, letting go of Albedo, it turned to new target, which turned out to be very angry looking Ben Tennyson in his alien form.

 

Turning its back on opponent like Albedo was a mistake. Ex-Galvan jumped up, and used all of his hands together as one, to punch creature in the head during descent.

 

The floor below almost gave out as large crater formed in the ground. For the moment, unmoving creature had its head stuck in the ground, with Albedo standing on its back.

 

Four eyes glared at transformed human. He quickly left his position, angry steps leading him towards the cause of his fury, but before he could give human the piece of his superior mind, he got yelled at instead. ''You left me!'' Flames on Pyronite's head went up at the word 'left'.

 

Stopping in his tracks near the other alien, Albedo was overtaken by confusion. ''What?''

 

Ben walked towards him, matching his earlier angry stomps with flaming ones of his own. ''You left me there with that Genomorph thing!'' Flaming teen hissed at him, stopping in front of him to glare up.

 

Lost for words, Albedo opted to stay silent to think. Ben Tennyson was acting highly out of character. The Ben Tennyson he knew would not trust him that easily, he would not even tolerate his presence and protection (Nor would he offer them if circumstances were different), not to mention seek him out for them...This made no sense! Yes, he wanted human's trust to get out of here, but he didn't expect such... intensity of it from him. He assumed brunette's human intuition -One from small number of positive aspects of humanity- would keep at least some level of animosity towards him.

 

''Are you even listening to me?!''

 

Trying very hard to see things from amnesic human's point of view, Albedo came to a strange conclusion. ''You trust me more than you trust our allies?''

 

Flame face stared at him as if he was dumb, he knew that because he was familiar with all of Ben Tennyson's facial expressions, with him being stuck as his clone and all. ''Of fucking course I trust you more than them, you are only one I trust right now!''

 

Albedo gave up trying to understand puzzle that was human mind... for now. ''Listen, I-''

 

''No, you listen.'' Ben cut him off. ''Don't ever leave me like that!''

 

Albedo observed most problematic human he knew, who had his arms crossed in defiance. ''This really is not the time...'' He tried weakly, too drained to argue with Ben Tennyson of all people.

 

He transformed back into human, not soon after, Ultimatrix went into recharge mode, transforming Ben back into human. Before any of them could say anything, familiar roar was heard from behind.

 

Albedo turned around to find monster take its head out of the floor. ''What does it take to keep this thing down?'' He heard Ben ask behind him.

 

''We have a plan on that.'' Another voice said behind them. From the way he was suddenly picked up and swung over someone's shoulder against his will, it could only be... ''Superboy, put me down right now!''

 

Superboy carried both of of them as he was joined by Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash. All of them were running towards exit. Before Albedo and Ben could ask anything, sounds of multiple explosions was heard. Two look-alikes could see whole building collapse behind them as they ran out.

 

Now outside, and far enough away from rubble that was a building just a minute ago, Superboy put them down gently.

 

''You could just tell us to run.'' Albedo said dryly. For once, he would rather be in Plumber prison than earth. Everyone except half-Kryptonian fell to ground from exhaustion. After all the running and fighting, hard ground felt like bed for Albedo. He looked to his right to see Ben sitting near him, his gaze never moving from Ex-Galvan's form. He would be concerned, but he was too tired to care. _'It is not even weirdest thing Ben Tennyson has done today.'_

 

Glancing to his left, he saw Robin and Kid Flash give each other high five, only to wince in pain at the contact. Aqualad was observing them in silence from his place on the ground, and Superboy was just looking at the moon.

 

All in all, it went better than Albedo expected, they escaped with minimal injuries. Ultimatrix was safe along with its wielder... even if device itself was acting weird... and Ben Tennyson didn't have memories...

 

White haired boy shook his head. _'Those are Azmuth's problems now.'_

 

''Something's flying towards us.''

 

All heads snapped towards Superboy, then towards the sky. Clone was right, there was something flying towards them.

 

As it landed, Ben and Albedo were able to see who it was clearly ...A strangely dressed man who wore a red cape, with giant 'S' on it. _'Just like Superboy's, could he be the original? Resemblance is undeniable.'_ Albedo thought.

 

White haired boy heard Ben mutter to himself. ''Why is he wearing his underwear outside of his clothes?''

 

But strangeness didn't stop there, suddenly, all manner of weirdly dressed individuals started descending from the sky. In no time at all, they were surrounded by them. Behind red caped man, stood another man, this one dressed in all black costume of some kind, mask covering most of his face... and he too wore a cape.

 

Teens got up from the ground. Robin, Aqualad and Kid flash did their best to avoid everyone's looks, Superboy just stared at red caped look alike with unreadable emotion. Tension was palpable.

 

Ex-Galvan was lost for words. _'Can things get any stranger?'_

 

And, as if just to mess with him, Azmuth and Professor Paradox appeared in a flash of white light.

 

Albedo had a feeling that things could only get worse for him now.


	2. Chapter 2

''I should have known it would be you.'' Azmuth said, glaring up at Albedo.

 

Silence reigned supreme for a moment as colorfully dressed adults eyed unknown intruders with guarded expressions. Before anyone could say or do anything, Ben, Albedo, Azmuth and professor were gone in a flash of white light.

 

\-----

 

Night-time with full moon changed into a sunny day, and they were in a desert.

 

Albedo and Ben could do nothing but gape at sudden change of scenery. Red eyed boy was first to put 2 and 2 together; He looked at Professor Paradox.

 

Ben had no idea on what happened, but he was willing to bet that glaring frog like creature and lab coat wearing man in front of them had something to do with it. He glanced at Utlimatrix and was pleased to find it be green instead of red. Amnesiac boy silently waited for Albedo to make a move.

 

White haired boy briefly glanced at battle ready brunette, before turning his gaze on first thinker. ''I can explain.'' He said as diplomatically as he could.

 

Galvan gave a curt nod. ''You will.''

 

In a flash of multiple green lights, they were encircled by at least ten plumbers, all of them pointing their handguns on Albedo. ''Once you are back in prison.''

 

Ex-Galvan wanted to groan. ''Just let me explain!'' He tried again.

 

And, as if things weren't bad enough, Kevin Levin and Gwen Tennyson teleported in with a flash of pink/purple light, both of them looking pissed.

 

''Get away from him, Albedo!'' Kevin shouted as Gwen's hands lit with energy.

 

 _'I should have noticed origin of her powers.'_ Thought Albedo, seeing hostile half Anodite in another light. Because nothing ever was simple with Tennysons! He raised his hands in surrender, no point in trying to outrun the time walker, he couldn't fight either because Azmuth already thought he was at fault ...again. _'I can only hope that he will listen to me once I am captured.'_

 

Two plumbers approached to put oversized handcuffs on him. Unknown to everyone, Ben was waiting for a signal from Albedo to act; He thought red eyed boy was just biding his time for a perfect chance to strike.

 

Now that he had very uncomfortable handcuffs on his wrists, he looked at Ben, who hadn't moved from his spot, and nodded to himself. _'I did a good job, I hope Azmuth will see that.'_

 

Unfortunately, Ben took that as a sign to act and used Ultimatrix to transform himself into Necrofriggian. He quickly grabbed two plumbers by their arms and threw them at Paradox and Azmuth, after which he grabbed Albedo's shoulders and turned both of them intangible. Not a moment later, green laser shots were flying thru them.

 

''Ben!'' They heard girl shout in disbelief.

 

''What is he doing!?''

 

He paid it no mind and flew up, moving away from what he perceived as enemy. Transformed teen half-consciously tightened hold on the boy in his arms.

He had to get Albedo to safety!

 

Meanwhile, said boy was having thought processing problems. _'What happened just now!'_ It took white haired boy several minutes to regain his ability to speak. ''What did you just do?'' His voice was barely a whisper, but Ben heard him clearly.

 

 _ **''I saved us from them.''**_ He answered simply. _**''Isn't that what you wanted me to do?''**_

 

''What gave you that idea?!'' Albedo snapped at him, irritated by his nonchalance in this form.

 

Green eyed creature shrugged and strengthened his hold on him even more. _**''You gave me a sign and I acted. And just in time too, I dread to think what they would have done to you.''**_

 

If he wasn't in a bear hug with Ben Tennyson of all beings, red eyed boy would facepalm. He took a deep breath and tried to be rational about it. _'I need to ditch him and give myself in, this is not my mess anymore.'_

 

If wielder of Ultimatrix trusted him _too_ much -A thought so weird, Albedo had hard time believing it- he wouldn't let him be captured or threatened, which meant he had to make sure that Ben wouldn't attack while he let himself be captured and threatened. He only hoped that they wouldn't shoot him on sight.

 

Ex-Galvan shivered at close proximity with cold body. ''Make us tangible.'' He ordered.

 

Ben did as he was told, but he didn't hesitate to voice his concern. _**''What if they attack us again? The way they kidnapped us is way too effective.''**_

 

 _'They have time walker with them, not to mention Azmuth.'_ Albedo thought grimly. ''You seem to be under misconception that we escaped.''

 

Insect-like green eyes were on his red ones in a second, hold on him increasing dramatically. _**''What do you mean?''**_ He asked with urgency in his voice.

 

''Tracking us down is easiest thing for them.'' He said. ''Also, control your strength, human bodies are exquisitely fragile.'' Albedo added with disdain.

 

Hold on him became lighter, but tight nonetheless. _**''Sorry.''**_

 

Albedo sighed. ''Do you even know where you are flying to?''

 

_**''....Away from them.''** _

 

''Typical.''

 

Transformed teen chuckled lightly and slowed down his flight speed.

 

 _'It is up to me to give you directions, huh.'_ White haired boy thought. Fortunately, he recognized the place Professor Paradox teleported them in, it was near Los Soledad, he knew that because he was a frequent visitor of that place due to his....means of earning a living. Not to mention that it is the place where he was building teleporter which Ben Tennyson interfered with. _'...What was he even doing there?'_

 

He had so many questions, yet so little time and means to get answers to them. ''You are flying in the right direction, just do not change the course and we will be in Bellwood before you know it.'' He said quietly, indulging in his own thoughts as long as he could. _'Maybe I should tell him more about himself?'_

 

He dismissed idea almost instantly. He needed Ben Tennyson's testimony to appease Azmuth, if he was to explain too much, latter would accuse him of manipulating green eyed teen.

 

True to Albedo's words, they made it to city without difficulty. Just in time because Ultimatrix went into a recharge mode, causing Ben to transform back into human. After using his ring to remove handcuffs and dropping them in nearest garbage bin, Albedo and Ben were walking side by side without clear direction, during which white haired boy asked. ''Do you recognize anything here?''

 

Ben looked around with a frown on his face. ''Should I recognize something?''

 

Albedo nodded with a frown of his own. _'Just remember already!'_ ''Yes, this is _your_ city.''

 

Ben's frown turned into apologetic smile. ''Sorry, it doesn't seem familiar at all. Weren't we in DC couple of minutes ago?''

 

Ex-Galvan raised an eyebrow. ''Yes. Is there anything that is familiar to you?''

 

Ben nodded shyly, his head turned towards white haired boy. ''Yes, you.... transformations.''

 

Albedo paused briefly before resuming his walk. ''That is very unfortunate.'' _'I am familiar to him, but his friends are not. No matter, I need a place where I can leave him.'_

 

Unsurprisingly, walking around in town with a famous hero caught attention of passing by humans. They took out their phones and started taking pictures of Ben.

 

Albedo was not happy with extra problem. _'He is like a magnet for trouble; Consciously or unconsciously, he attracts it.'_

 

He was seriously thinking of leaving Ben right there, while Ultimatrix was in recharge mode. A memory of green eyed boy's violent reaction played thru Ex-Galvan's mind.

 

_Don't ever leave me like that!_

 

Albedo bit his lip. _'If he catches me after I leave him...'_ He stopped that thought with anger. _'So what?! I have no more obligations towards him, he is Azmuth's problem. Speaking of which, where is he? I am parading with Ben Tennyson to get caught for science's sake! Not to mention the time walker, locating and capturing me should be nothing to him.'_

 

''Albedo,'' Ben's concerned voice cut thru his thoughts. ''I think we are being followed.''

 

White haired boy looked around and spotted the problem, they were indeed being followed.... by a group of awed teens with phones. _'Just put me in prison already!'_

 

Ex-Galvan was looking for escape routes when Mr. Smoothy restaurant came into his view. _'Perfect place to leave him, it's his favorite delicacy, along with chili fries.'_ He ignored small voice in his mind that said it was his favorite food as well.

 

''Follow me.'' He whispered as more and more people took notice of famous hero.

 

They entered the restaurant and took seats near window, sitting across each other in silence. The place was empty, safe for 2 female teenagers that had their noses in their phones, sitting far away from them, and 2 male employees behind the counter.

 

Albedo quickly glanced out of the window, before moving his eyes on Ben, who was looking at smoothies on female teens's table with interest. Ex-Galvan suddenly remembered that they haven't eaten anything for 2 days. _'Maybe I should get us chili fries before...No, I don't have time. Prison food it is then.'_

 

He gave best fake smile he could muster. ''Ben Tennyson, why don't you go get us your- _our_ favorite beverages?''

 

Ben turned his eyes on Albedo and blinked, doubt clear on his face. ''...Do you have any money on you?''

 

Albedo waved him off. ''They will give it to you for free.'' He knew that because in the past, he had used his resemblance to green eyed teen to get free drinks for himself.

 

Ben just nodded, unsure about why anyone would give away free drinks like that. _'But if Albedo says so, it must be true.'_

 

''...What is my favorite flavor?'' He asked, standing up.

 

''Grape.'' White haired male answered without missing a beat. ''Same goes for me.''

 

Ben smiled and walked towards the counter. _'We like the same flavor.'_ The thought made him happy on the inside.

 

''Have you heard?'' Female voice began, it was one of 2 teens occupying table near the counter, he was now close enough to hear them.

 

''About what?'' Orange haired one asked.

 

''Ben Tennyson is back!'' Black haired one announced cheerfully.

 

That stopped green eyed teen in his tracks, making his smile evaporate.

 

''Who told you that?''

 

''It's trending on twitter as we speak.''

 

''Then it must be true.''

 

Ben avoided looking at two teens and approached the counter. _'Don't think about it, just get the drinks.'_ He told himself.

 

He was greeted by a guy in his twenties.... who was shaking as if death itself stood in front of him. ''H-how- um-Can I-I h-help y-you?''

 

Ben kept his face neutral to not show how confused his was. ''Hi.''

 

''H-hi.''

 

Other employee interjected before things could get more awkward.

 

Dark haired man with blue eyes smiled, holding out two smoothies in his hands. ''It's good to have you back, Mr. Tennyson. Here is the usual for you and...your guest, on the house!'' He offered with enthusiasm.

 

''...Thanks,'' He looked down on man's name tag. ''Mr. Dom Tiler.''

 

He took offered drinks and was about to go back to Albedo when, what could only be described as crowd of wild fans, barged in the restaurant. Before he could move, he was surrounded by people. They were loud, almost every one of them held a phone, and none of them seemed to be aware of what personal space was. Green eyed boy didn't know what to do. _'Who are those people?!'_

 

''Can I have your autograph!?''

 

''Can we take a selfie with you, please?!''

 

''Where were for past week?!''

 

''Could you transform for us?!''

 

He was stormed with barrage of questions and requests. Lost and confused, he couldn't even see his red eyed companion, which only added to his already growing panic. _'Albedo, help me!'_

 

Said teen was smirking to himself in his seat. _'That should keep you busy long enough. I found use for your fame, well, use that is not me getting free smoothies by pretending to be you.'_

 

Now he could leave... Or so he thought, before he could even move from his seat, forever knights barged in the restaurant, armed with laser guns and swords. They started kicking still excited and noisy people -' _Would they be confident of their own safety if they knew that Ben Tennyson is not likely to protect them?'-_ out of the establishment. In little under 2 minutes, it was only them, Ben and Albedo in the building.

 

Knights immediately pointed their weapons on Ben. There were 8 of those armored humans, none of them made a move to attack. _'Which means they are waiting for orders....Where is the leader?'_ White haired boy thought.

 

Albedo looked out of the window and cursed his luck. _'Not him, it is literally the worst time for him to appear.'_ There, among people that still hadn't left for some reason, stood a tall man who stuck out like a sore thumb. He was dressed in black as night tuxedo, along with rainbow colored bow tie and iron boots to match forever knight helmet on his head. His body screamed 'well built and ready for combat'.

 

Meanwhile, Ben observed armor-clad humans with distrust. ' _Can't they just leave us alone?'_ Sure, it was nice of them to get rid of overzealous crowd, but weapons and open hostility towards him, as well as them standing between him and Albedo, made it clear that they were not allies. He put smoothies on the table near him, and waited for Albedo to make a move. _'He is so confident and calm.'_ Ben thought in admiration when he moved his gaze on Albedo. White haired boy had a blank expression on his face, one that he used when he was planning something and didn't want enemy to catch up on it. Green eyed teen was already familiar with it because of their escape from Cadmus.

 

Contrary to Ben's thoughts, Albedo was NOT calm. If anything, he was incensed. White haired boy was just hiding it with great effort. _'Previous acting career comes in handy from time to time.'_

 

Leader finally decided to grace two teens with his presence and entered the building. His head moved, scanning the room, fleetingly lingering on brunette near the counter. ''Ben Tennyson,'' Strangely melodic voice began. ''I see that rumors about your death were very much unsound.''

 

He moved towards Albedo, causing Ben take a threatening step forwards. Forever knights responded by talking a cautious step back. Only thing stopping brunette from attacking was the thought that he might interfere with whatever plans Albedo had.

 

Tall man stopped in front of white haired boy, blocking him from green eyed teen's line of sight, much to said teen's frustration.

 

Albedo looked up at towering man, his poker face giving nothing away. ''Sir Quietus, to what do I own the unexpected pleasure?'' Translation: ' _How did you find me?'_

 

Quietus chuckled before taking off his helmet and handing it to one of the knights behind him. His face was deceivingly young, Albedo would think he was in his twenties if he didn't know better, short green hair and purple eyes were as fake as rest of him.

 

''Your ring.'' Leader said simply. ''Did you forget who gave you materials to make it? Let's just say that I slipped in a part which only I could track.''

 

Red eyed boy -distrustingly- looked down on his right hand, before glaring up at smiling man. _'To think that I actually liked this device... Figures that my trust in it would be used against me -A weakness I was too attached to consider.'_   Now he wanted nothing more than to throw it away and be done with it.

 

''Don't you give me that look, I needed a way to find you in case you betrayed us...'' Smile dropped, along with temperature in the building. ''Like you did before disappearing for a week with Ben Tennyson, we all thought you were dead.... but the moment tracking system re-detected you on the planet, I came running.''

 

Glare from red eyed boy did not stop. Green haired man pouted, temperature returning to normal. ''If anything, it is me who should be angry. Not only did you steal from me, but you almost got yourself killed as well; What would I do without your skills?''

 

Albedo took the ring off and put it on a table, glare in his eyes not diminishing at all. ''New face.'' He only said.

 

Purple eyed man was delighted. ''I'm so glad you noticed! Doctor Inar did a spectacular job, I can't wait till you meet her an-''

 

''Who are you?'' Voice behind Quietus asked, making man turn around to look at who interrupted him.

 

Ben did not like this man at all. Something about him was just.... off.  _'_ And _how does Albedo know him?'_

 

Quietus looked cautions now. ''Ben Tennyson, it's good to finally meet you.'' He rubbed his head. ''Well, we _have_ met before, when I sued you for property damage on my theater, but it's all in the past now.''

 

''I don't remember you.'' He said shortly.

 

Green haired man shrugged. ''I didn't expect you to.''

 

Albedo finally calmed down enough to realize that Quietus shouldn't be talking to Ben because green eyed boy might blurt out that....

 

''I don't remember anything, I lost my memories.''

 

No one said anything for a moment, as if time itself stopped moving, in duration of which Albedo cursed Ben with every insult he could think of. _'This... is officially a disaster.'_

 

Suddenly, forever knights were not so cautions; Quietus himself looked like a wolf that was about to attack. ''Is that so?''

 

_'Time Walker, Azmuth, where are you two? Even Ben Tennyson's friends will do now, just come and save this fool!'_

 

But it seemed that it was up to Albedo to protect green eyed brunette.... once again.

 

In a flash of red light, he transformed into Necrofriggian, and flew thru several knights with its intangibility on his way to brunette. Knights collapsed as their armors got covered in ice, people inside said armors whimpered at cold that started spreading on their flesh.

 

He made himself tangible in front of Ben, his phantom like appearance sending shivers of fear thru trained soldiers, or was it his ice? _**''You will not harm him.''**_

 

Quietus stepped in front of his fallen soldiers, disbelief clear on his face. ''Is that a joke?''

 

Alien's head titled. _**''Have you ever heard a joke from me?''**_

 

Bow tie wearing man considered his question before shouting with frustration and stupefaction. '' _You_ are _actually_ defending _him_!?'' His hands were pointing behind Albedo.

 

Red eyed creature didn't respond to his question. Instead, he was staring in silence as knights that were not frozen inside out, helped their fallen comrades.

 

''This is our chance to _finally_   take him down for good, why are you standing in our way when _you_ of all-''

 

 _ **''Enough!''**_   Ice formed on the floor under Albedo's feet, slowly moving towards forever knights. _ **''Ben Tennyson is under my protection, I will not let you harm him.''**_   He said, still angry at.... well, everything! Past couple of hours were most frustrating moments of his life. He was just itching for an excuse to hurt something... to hurt someone; Group in front of him was perfect for it.

 

The obvious bloodlust form transformed teen made everyone uneasy, not Ben though, he was just completely awestruck.

 

''Why are you protecting him?!'' Green head asked, still unable comprehend Albedo's actions. ''If you want to kill him yourself, we won't interf-''

 

Ice spear was formed from the frozen floor beneath his feet, it impaled him thru his stomach.

 

''My liege!'' Forever knights exclaimed.

 

Strangely enough, no blood came from the wound. Remaining knights wasted no time and dematerialized themselves away, taking Sir Quietus's body with them.

 

 _ **''Short range teleport.''**_   Albedo muttered to himself tiredly, all the anger and aggression gone without trace. He was suddenly feeling headache and ... _'Why is everything spinning?'_

 

''Albedo, that was-.... Are you alright?'' He felt warm hands on his cold body, making him turn around to face green eyes. _Why was everything so hard to see all of a sudden?_

 

His last words before transforming and falling unconscious in Ben's arms were: _**''Find... Azmuth.''**_

 

\-----

 

''Albedo, please wake up!''

 

Someone was shaking him. He tried to open his eyes and felt massive headache, letting out noise of discomfort, he grabbed whatever was shaking him so uncontrollably.

 

It stopped moving. _'What is this?'_   He appeared to be holding something warm and soft. White haired boy rubbed the softness, trying to get an image of its shape in his head. He frowned at increasing heat from it before slowly opening his eyes, for a minute, he stared numbly at his right hand, then his brain started working.

 

His hand was on familiar/ _annoying_ brunette, who for some reason was staring at him as if Albedo was the Ultimatrix, face all red and warm. Too close for Ex-Galvan's comfort, and his hands were on his shoulders. He then realized that softness he had his hand on was Ben Tennyson's left cheek.

 

Green eyes were staring at him, fascinated by the act. He swiftly retracted his hand on the bed... _'On the bed... where am I?'_

 

He looked around from his laying position. He was in Ben Tennyson's room. _'How did he?'_

 

''Did you get your memories back?''

 

Ben blinked, redness on his face diminishing. ''No, it...I-I'm sorry!'' He tried to say.

 

''That tells me nothing.'' Albedo said dryly, his red eyes staring into green ones.

 

''I'm sorry that I got us captured; I still don't remember anything.'' Ben clarified, this time avoiding his gaze.

 

''Captured?'' Albedo muttered. So he didn't bring him here on his own. ''By whom?'' _'Your friends, time walker, Azmuth?'_

 

Before Ben could answer, voices behind closed door did it for him. ''And what do you want me to do about it?!'' That was undoubtedly Kevin Levin.

 

White haired boy rolled his eyes. _'Just perfect.'_

 

He whispered to Ben to give him some space. And the other did just that, once he comprehend how close he was and how he hadn't let go of him yet.

 

Red eyed teen wasted no time in getting up and forming a plan. _'I can use this situation.'_

 

''Just try to be civil, Ben is not himself at the moment and he needs our support!'' Gwen Tennyson's voice scolded.

 

''I get that, but what is _he_ doing here? You know how dangerous he is!''

 

 _'They are arguing about me then.'_   Albedo thought as he neared do door, his hand moving on the handle.

 

''Ben said he wouldn't go anywhere without him, and Azmuth said to-''

 

He cut them off by opening the door. ''We can hear you, this room is not soundproof.''

 

Couple stared at bored looking boy for a second before pink energy construct wrapped around him. Bored look on his face remained as said constructed pushed him back violently towards Ben's bed.

 

He was bound, sitting on the bed and awaiting for further action from two half-humans.

 

Kevin smirked at his girlfriend. ''So much for civility and not doing anything rush.''

 

Gwen blushed.

 

 _'She changes colors like Ben Tennyson.'_ Albedo noticed, remembering how red brunette was just a moment ago.

 

''I didn't know he was awake!''

 

''Let him go.'' All heads snapped towards Ben, who stood near the bed. His hand was on the Ultimatrix, ready to transform and attack. '' _Now!_ ''

 

''Ben?'' Gwen said as she and Kevin stared at him in disbelief. ''What are you-''

 

''Don't make me repeat myself.'' Green eyed boy hissed with a glare to match.

 

 _'As entertaining it would be to see you fight your friends...'_  

 

''Stand down, Ben Tennyson.'' Albedo ordered with a stern look on his face. _'I can not have you ruining my capture again.'_

 

Ben's glare dropped as pleading eyes stared at white haired teen. ''But they-''

 

Albedo narrowed his eyes. ''Do not make me repeat myself.'' He repeated Ben's words.

 

Ben slowly moved his hand away from the device, and reignited his murderous look on two before him.

 

Gwen and Kevin exchanged concerned looks. Female Half-Anodite asked first. ''Ben, are you alright? What happened to you?''

 

Greed eyed boy snarled at her. ''None of your business!''

 

Kevin growled at Albedo with disdain. ''What did you do to him?'' He took a threatening step towards white haired teen, only for Ben to take a protective step in front of him.

 

''Are you for real right now?'' Kevin asked, baffled. ''You are acting like a trained dog, what did he do to you?'' Concern slipped in his voice.

 

Ben was having none of it. _'They attacked Albedo.'_

 

''Enough!'' Red eyed boy shouted, getting attention of 3 half humans. ''If you three are done acting like primitives that you are, I can explain everything.''

 

Gwen and Kevin looked at each other as female half Anodite's eyes glowed pink.

 

Ex-Galvan bit his lip. _'Are they communicating telepathically? She is that advanced already?'_

 

Suddenly, her eyes returned to normal. ''We will listen to what you have to say, but don't expect us to believe you.''

 

Kevin nodded. ''We don't trust you.'' He added.

 

Albedo looked down on energy construct around him. ''That much is obvious.''

 

Satisfied by the fact that they weren't attacking, Ben went back to red eyed boy's side and took a sit on the bed with him. But his eyes didn't leave the pair, warning them that he wouldn't hesitate to act.

 

Gwen and Kevin frowned at that, but said nothing.

 

They slowly walked towards bound criminal, making sure to be ready if he tried anything. ''This better be good.'' Black haired boy muttered. They stopped in front of look-alike duo.

 

''Before I begin, get rid of this.'' Albedo asked, yearning himself an outraged look from the two. '' _Please?_ '' He added.

 

''Not a chance.'' Kevin answered before Gwen made her creation disappear.

 

Black haired boy looked at her, confused. ''Gwen?''

 

Gwen shook her head. ''He can get out of them anytime he wants.'' Then she narrowed her eyes at white haired teen. ''Why haven't you?''

 

Albedo shrugged, moving his arms behind his head. ''You imbeciles would take it as a hostile move, if me being bound helps you feel safe -a misguided assertion- you can put it back on me.''

 

She made no move to do that, choosing instead to observe him critically.

 

Kevin crossed his arms and waited for Albedo to begin.

 

Seeing that he had full attention of everyone, he began explaining. ''Ben Tennyson lost his memories.'' He said very shortly, as if that was the whole explanation.

 

Black haired boy and his girlfriend paused before their eyes went wide in understanding. ''How?'' They both asked at the same time, seeing their friend in a new light; His actions almost made sense now.

 

''It began like this: I was minding my own business.'' Albedo said, being very casual about it.

 

Gwen snorted and Kevin muttered under his breath: ''Like hell you were.''

 

''Then he'' Pointed to his left at listening brunette. ''appeared out of nowhere and decided to mess with my teleporter.''

 

Ben looked confused. _'Is he lying to them... or did I really do that?'_

 

Kevin nodded. ''I follow you so far, what happened next?''

 

Albedo sighed, letting his arms fall on his legs. ''Then space-time event of incalculable complexity happened while we were dematerialized. It took us.... off the destination I had in mind.'' ' _Understatement of the century.'_

 

''That's why we couldn't find you for a whole week!'' Gwen exclaimed. She feared for the worst when magic spells and relentless searches gave her nothing.

 

Ex-Galvan frowned. _'A week, huh. It seems my suspicions were correct... Matters not.'_

 

Kevin was more skeptical. ''What space-time event?''

 

Green light flashed in the room. ''Temporal cataclysm.'' Voice answered as Professor Paradox appeared behind Kevin and Gwen. Two lovers turned around to face elder being.

 

Albedo sat up straighter. His face became emotionless mask that Ben learned to recognize during their short time together. _'He must be very dangerous.'_ He thought, resting his hand on Ultimatrix.

 

''Professor?'' Gwen asked, confused.

 

''We have very little time, Gwendolyn.'' He said with a pained smile.

 

''What is going on?'' Kevin asked. _'He's acting weirder than usual. They all are, now that I think about it.'_

 

Professor directed his eyes on him, pained smile never leaving his face. ''Ah Kevin, is your car outside?''

 

Black haired teen was taken aback by the sudden question. ''...Yes. Why do you ask?'' Horror found its way on teen's face. ''Is something wrong with my baby?!''

 

Paradox chuckled, but even that looked as if he was in pain. ''No, not yet anyway.''

 

That did not calm Kevin down. Mildly amused by teen's reaction, time walker continued. ''I would like for you to get it ready, we'll be needing transportation.''

 

''Can't you use your ...'Walking' and 'strolling' thing?'' Kevin asked, not sure why Paradox of all people would need his car for moving around. Also he didn't want time walker near his beauty of a car. Especially after what professor so cryptically implied.

 

Elder being just shrugged. ''If you want to leave your vehicle defencele...''

 

Kevin was out of the room before Paradox could finish.

 

Gwen shook her head at her boyfriend's antics; Beautiful smile on her face was filled with fondness. ''Boys and their toys.''

 

Paradox gave a first genuine smile at that, but it soon melted into pained one as he looked towards two look-alikes.

 

Pair of green and red eyes observed him warily. Red ones were holding fear and relief. _'Finally! I can give Ben Tennyson to them and ask Azmuth to fix me... I only need time walker to not kill me.'_ While green ones held hostility and curiosity. _'I will not let them harm us.'_

 

Professor sighed. ''It's a fine mess you two found yourselves in.''

 

Albedo titled his head, glad that he wasn't thrown into a sun just yet. ''It is not my fault.'' He defended. ''It's Ben Tennyson's fault.''

 

Ben was once again unsure if white haired boy was lying to them or not.

 

Paradox agreed, much to everyone's surprise. ''It is not your fault.'' He then gave Ex-Galvan a sharp look. ''Neither is it Ben's.''

 

Albedo flinched and avoided looking him in the eyes. Ben openly glared at immortal time traveler, his right hand moving on Albedo's shoulder, trying to comfort him without words.

 

Not surprised by that, time walker calmly explained. ''You built your teleporter in Los Soledad -Unwise choice on your part, the fabric of space-time there was paper-thin- Benjamin's interference only activated it, he did not cause the event that led you two in another universe.''

 

Gwen was stunned, staring at her cousin and his clone. Former of which was muttering to himself. ''Different universe... seriously?''

 

Immortal's gaze was on Ultimatrix when he added. ''In fact, if it wasn't for him, you wouldn't survive temporal cataclysm.''

 

 _'He is right.'_ Albedo thought with painful realization. _'Even now I blame him for my mistakes, if it wasn't for him I...'_ His hand moved on Ben's, which was still on his shoulder. He tried to remember what that meant for humans. _'It is another sign of comfort and reassurance... I do not deserve it from you_ , _Ben Tennyson.'_

 

Paradox's eyes narrowed. ''Which reminds me, where and when did you get temporal shields and... there is more?'' He asked himself, as if trying to see something that was hidden from him.

 

''...Temporal extractor?'' Albedo offered weakly, trying to distract himself.

 

Professor's eyes went wide. If situation was different, it would please Ex-Galvan; Surprising someone like Paradox was a privilege.

 

''Ultimatrix was built by you, where did you get them?'' Time walker asked coldly.

 

Albedo paled. ''I have nothing to do with this!'' He said instantaneously. ''I thought they were added by Azmuth; Ask him.''

 

Paradox had a thoughtful look on his face at that.

 

''My knowledge of temporal science is strictly theoretical.'' Ex-Galvan felt compelled to add. ''I might not be a Galvan anymore, physically speaking, but rules on what I'm allowed to know are-''

 

''I believe you.'' Paradox assured, stopping red eyed boy's rambling.

 

''You do?'' Albedo and Gwen asked at the same time.

 

''Yes, you are many things, suicidal is not one of them.'' He said with obviously forced smile.

 

Albedo gave a relieved sight and relaxed. To his left, Ben followed suit. _'I don't know what's happening, I hope you'll explain.'_ He looked at Paradox and Gwen. _'They obviously know me... And they are hostile to Albedo for some reason.'_

 

Green eyed boy whispered to his look-alike. ''Okay, who are they?''

 

Gwen heard that and answered instead of red eyed boy. ''I'm your cousin.'' _'Maybe he'll remember if I tell him?'_ ''Gwen Tennyson.'' She offered. ''Does it sound familiar?''

 

Ben gave her an impassive look. ''Never heard of you.'' He stated coldly.

 

She frowned at the answer and animosity towards herself. _'Why?'_ She was sure that they haven't given him any reason to be this way towards them. Female Anodite's eyes moved on Albedo. ''Why is he acting like this?'' _'What did you do to him? It is more than him losing his memories.'_

 

Once more, before red eyed boy could answer, he was beaten to it, this time by Ben. ''You attacked us!'' He exclaimed, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

 

''Us?.....'' Her frown deepened. ''Is it because we attacked him?'' She pointed at Albedo, who looked like he would rather be in prison. ''Ben, he is a dangerous criminal, I was protecting you.''

 

Green eyed boy didn't look convinced; He turned his head towards his clone. ''So who is she anyway?''

 

''I already told you.'' She reminded, frustration clear in her voice.

 

Ben didn't even look at her. ''I don't believe anything you say.''

 

Albedo wanted to go back to unconsciousness. _'Just a bit more; I have to endure.'_ Ex-Galvan turned his head to his left and answered. ''She is telling you the truth.''

 

Ben nodded slowly, processing the new information. ''I see.''

 

Gwen was momentarily speechless. ''Is that all you have to say?!'' _'He just admitted to being a criminal, and danger to you.... Why are you even listening to him?!'_

 

Male half-Anodite gave her annoyed look. ''Is there anything else I need to say?''

 

Paradox, who was observing this interaction with thoughtful look, decided to speak up. ''Me and Azmuth just came back from the universe you two were in. After how strange Ben acted when we found him in the restaurant, and before that in desert, we decided to investigate. We spent a day talking with-''

 

He paused at confused faces from Gwen and Ben. ''Due to disastrous temporal cataclysm, time dilations are unavoidable, even for me. I was able to use it to my advantage... But the price...'' He looked apologetically at everyone and continued. ''Where was I? Ah yes. After a day of talking with fabulously dressed Superheroes, their'' -Chuckle- ''sidekicks's reports told us how and _where_ they met you two.''

 

Ben looked lost. ''Wait, we really were in a different universe?! I thought you were joking.''

 

Albedo muttered to himself. ''I figured that much; No one knew who Ben Tennyson was.''

 

''I'm not following.'' Gwen stated. ''What does that have to do with Ben's behaviour?''

 

''Albedo saved Ben when they were captured by criminal organization, and protected him during their breakout.'' Time traveler told her.

 

Gwen was smart enough to get the rest on her own. _'He lost his memories and was saved by Albedo, who for some nefarious reason, protected him... In his eyes, I attacked his savior and ally; Who knows what kind of lies he fed him!'_

 

''Ben, listen to me.'' She said urgently, her hands clenched into fists. ''Albedo is not who you think he is, he is just using you to you steal Ultimatrix and kill you.''

 

Albedo took offence to that, shooting a tired glare at her. ''I do not desire Ultimatrix, nor do I want him dead.'' _'The part about me using him is correct.'_

 

Half-Anodite gave him a look that said she didn't believe him.

 

But other half-Anodite gave him a look that said opposite of her expression. His hand on white haired boy's shoulder was still there.... for some reason.

 

''Do you mind?'' Ex-Galvan asked, looking down on hero's hand.

 

Ben blushed, removing his hand. ''Sorry.''

 

Gwen couldn't believe her own eyes. She turned to Professor Paradox. ''How can we fix him?''

 

Paradox sighed at that. ''I'm afraid we have bigger problems.''

 

Female Tennyson raised an eyebrow. ''Bigger than this?''

 

Professor nodded, his voice was full of unreadable emotion. ''Infinitely.''

 

She looked uneasy at the answer. ''...What happened?''

 

Immortal glanced at Ben and Albedo. ''It's a question of what is happening as we speak.'' He shook his head. ''Establish telepathic link between us.''

 

She did as he asked, her eyes glowed purple as they conversed in their minds.

 

''What are they doing?'' Ben asked, observing the two.

 

Albedo was only half-listening to him, so explanation came out automatically. ''She is using her Anodite telepathy to communicate with him.'' _It is because they don't want us/me to hear_ Was left unsaid.

 

''Anodite... Is not that what you said I was?''

 

 _'This is getting more and more irritating.'_ Albedo thought. ''Listen Ben Tennyson, people you have met now are your friends, allies and family.'' He gestured around. ''This is your home.'' And looked green eyed boy in the eyes. ''And you are a hero of this universe.''

 

Ben could do nothing but stare at him with wide eyes. Ex-Galvan was not even done, he grabbed his left hand and tapped the Ultimatrix. ''You wield the most powerful weapon in the universe, and have used it for deeds that made you into a symbol of peace for countless civilizations in cosmos.'' He narrowed his eyes at quivering teen. _'Act like yourself!'_ ''Your fame is unparalleled, as is your infamy. I advice you to act in accordance with your status.''

 

White haired boy let go of Ben's hand, and returned his attention on two before him. _'This should give him more than enough data about himself to occupy his thoughts; This much should be enough for Azmuth to not accuse me of corrupting his little chosen one.'_

 

The result was opposite of what he intended.

 

Young hero was frightened by what he heard. Panic that he forced down in Cadmus came back with vengeance, his thoughts and emotions were all over the place. Albedo only noticed the damage he did when low and shaky voice called for him. ''A-Albedo.''

 

 _'What now?!'_ He turned his head towards Ben and froze. The mighty hero he described just a minute ago was on the verge of tears. His green eyes were looking at _him_ for comfort and assurance.

 

Ex-Galvan fully turned towards him, his face was full of regret and shame. _'I did it again, I knowingly hurt him for myself...'_ He did only thing he know would be effective in that situation, sweet words and a hug.

 

Wrapping his arms around brunette, he brought other closer to himself; Green eyed boy immediately hugged him back.

 

White haired boy looked down on a mess of brown hair in his arms. ''I-I was wrong, I should not have informed you this much about yourself so quickly... I am... I am sorry for being-I am just...'' Albedo silently cursed himself for undignified mess of a sentence. _'Someone of my genius should not be like this... I am better than this!'_

 

Guilt was emotion that he hated the most; He didn't know how to deal with it. Not that he fared better with other emotions, but guilt in particular was the worst. _'Humans feel too much.'_

 

Forcing himself to calmness, he focused on Ben. ''I am very impressed with how well you controlled yourself until now,'' That was true, despite amnesia, he did better than Albedo expected him to do. ''you truly are best of humanity.'' He gave himself a surprise by admitting that. _'...But you are... yes. No other is worthy of wielding my Ultimatrix.'_

 

He suddenly understood why humans found hugs and closeness to one another so comforting, at least little bit anyway; Next words that came out of his mouth were the hardest thing he had ever said, not because they were lies, -Deceptions and falsehoods were weapons he refused to not use when situations called for it- but because it was full truth that he refused to acknowledge until now. ''You are brave and resourceful, you fight and overcome everyone's expectations, even mine....No, _especially_ mine.'' He paused, being this open felt uneasy and new.

 

Albedo suddenly realized how hard his hold was on the green eyed teen, _'Who is consoling whom, I wonder.'_ and loosened his strength. ''I just want you to know that no matter how lost you feel right now, you will overcome it, that is what you do; It is your nature.''

 

Not soon after saying all that, he scowled. _'I hate emotions, I hate this body. What an embarrassment I am right.'_ At least Paradox and Gwen Tennyson were too distracted with their telepathic conversation to notice his moment of divulgence.

 

An awkward cough from female Anodite made him want to disappear. He immediately untangled himself from brunette and forced him away with a light push.

 

Ben now looked calmer, but frown on his face told everyone he didn't appreciate interruption.

 

Gwen and professor were lost for words. That alone told Albedo that they heard enough. He then noticed that Gwen's eyes were still glowing purple. _'What is she up to now?'_

 

''Well then, that was interesting.'' Paradox said, hopeful smile forming on his face. ''Tell me, Albedo of Galvan,''

 

Red eyed boy perked up at the way Paradox addressed him; It had been so long since someone acknowledged him as Galvan.

 

''What are your plans now?''

 

White haired teen glanced at Ben. _'My plans, huh. I see no reason to lie... No matter what your reaction will be, you are not my problem anymore. Farewell, Ben Tennyson.'_

 

He looked immortal time traveler in the eyes and answered his question. ''I will give myself in to Plumbers and speak with Azmuth, after which I will accept whatever punishment first thinker decides is fitting for me.''

 

Gwen's glowing eyes narrowed suspiciously at him. Paradox on the other hand was impossible to read.

 

''Why are you becoming a plumber and what punishment are you talking about?'' Ben asked.

 

Albedo sighed and shot Professor a look that said: _You take care of it, please._

 

Time traveler was kind enough to explain it to hero, but his eyes were on Ex-Galvan the entire time. ''Plumbers are an inter-planetary law enforcement force, you are part of it, I would go as far as to say that you hold highest rank in it.''

 

He finally looked away from Albedo, who was getting uneasy under his watch, and smiled at amnesiac hero. ''Or has it not happened here yet?''

 

 _'...Hero or not, that is a lot of responsibility for one person.'_ Ben slowly nodded. ''...Okay, but what about punishment?''

 

Paradox stayed silent on that. Ben didn't like it, he looked at Albedo with narrowed eyes. ''What punishment were you talking about?'' _'And why are they after you?'_

 

White haired boy didn't say anything as well. Hero looked angry at their response, or rather lack of it. ''I am not letting you be captured then.''

 

Albedo rolled his eyes. ''It is not up to you.''

 

Ben glared at him. ''Why are you letting them capture you? We just escaped from one cage, and you want to get stuck in another one!?'' He asked incredulously.

 

''Yes.'' Red eyed human answered without delay. _'Why do you care?! Your trust in me should be no more; Now you know I am a criminal, and enemy to you.'_

 

''How are you doing that?!'' Female Anodite's angry question stopped further arguments between two look-alikes.

 

Ben and Albedo looked at her, both of them startled. ''What?'' Two of them asked simultaneously.

 

''Don't play your games with me, Albedo!'' She growled at him, light in her eyes growing stronger with each word. ''Tell me how you are doing _this_?''

 

Albedo was confused. What did she think he was doing?

 

''Gwendolyn.'' Professor's calm voice stopped everyone in the room.

 

She turned to Paradox. ''This is one of his tricks.''

 

Time traveler shook his head. ''No, my dear. This is not a trick, you have seen it with your own eyes. He was honest.''

 

Gwen was not having it. ''He must have known that I was checking his aura for lies; He did something to make it seem like he was telling the truth!''

 

''Rude!'' Albedo shot at her. _'Checking someone's aura like that, the nerve.'_

 

Gwen turned towards him, her face twisted in barely contained anger, but her eyes no longer shined. ''Enough with your mind games, Albedo.''

 

''You opinion on this is irrelevant.'' Albedo stated, tone becoming slightly condescending. ''It matters not what little Anodite thinks.''

 

Ben shifted uncomfortably, his arms crossed. ''Maybe I can come with you?'' He offered. ''If I'm such a big shot, I might be able to convince them to let you go...''

 

Albedo looked at him in horror. ''You will do no such thing.'' _'You interfered enough!'_

 

Wielder of most powerful weapon in the universe frowned. ''Why?''

 

White haired boy dismissed him with a wave of his hand. ''That is not your business either; Your opinion on this is just as relevant as Gwen Tennyson's. Which means not at all.''

 

Ben looked hurt at that. Albedo missed it completely, but Gwen did not; She knew her cousin well, and that expression on his face told her that ex-Galvan's words cut deep.

 

She calmed herself down, closing her eyes for a moment. _'I need to do this for Ben.'_ When she opened them, they were glowing pink-purple once more.

 

Half-Anodite set her gaze on what she considered root of whole week's problems. ''Continue.''

 

Time traveler nodded curtly, his face thoughtful, but none could tell what he was thinking about. ''And do you desire harm to Benjamin?''

 

Ben snorted. _'He doesn't.'_

 

Albedo disliked being probed like that. _'Just arrest me already!'_ But he didn't want seem disrespectful toward time walker. ''No.''

 

''Do you wish to steal Ultimatrix?''

 

''No.''

 

Smile started re-forming on Paradox's face. ''The last question then: Do you regret your actions against him?'' He gestured at teen beside him.

 

Ben raised an eyebrow. _'They are treating him as an enemy; Like he could harm ...me at any moment... Could it be that we haven't told them about nature of our relationship?'_ He wanted to ask Albedo. _'I just need a moment alone with him.'_

 

White haired teen frowned at that, he disliked the question greatly, even more than previous ones. ''No.''

 

Gwen bit her lip. ''The last answer was a complete lie.''

 

''I know.'' Said a fully grinning Paradox. ''Good news: You will not be going to prison!''

 

''Excuse me?'' Albedo asked with shocked/outraged look on his face.

 

''You are excused.'' Time walker replied. ''Now let's get going; Azmuth should arrive at any minute.''

 

He walked out of the room thru the door, leaving behind confusion and frustration. Albedo was once more lost for words. _'Time walker... He lost his mind! I knew that hanging around with Tennysons would do that to a person.'_

 

Ben didn't know what to make of immortal's words. He looked at Albedo for guidance, but white haired boy looked just as confused as he was.

 

Meanwhile, Gwen was giving both of them long and hard look, her eyes still held the previous glow. ''Ben, go outside with professor, I want to have a word with... your friend.'' She said word 'friend' with obvious distaste. ''Privately.'' She added.

 

Green eyed boy glared at her. ''Absolutely not.''

 

Albedo observed female Tennyson with annoyed look, but he did take her side on that. ''Do as she asked you, Ben Tennyson.''

 

''But she might-'' Ben tried to reason.

 

''I can transform any time I want, if I wanted to escape, I would have done so already. Now leave.'' Albedo assured/ordered.

 

Ben looked like he wanted to argue, but one pointed look from red eyed boy told him that he would be wasting his time. '' _Be careful.''_ He whispered before standing up and leaving the room.

 

The moment door closed, Albedo was assaulted by Anodite's constructs. Purple-pink tentacles of immense strength wrapped around him, lifting him up in the air, and slowly squeezing the life out of him. But despite his... predicament, Ex-Galvan showed no change in his expression.

 

Gwen on the other hand looked like a nightmare that came to life, mana was flowing out of her as she glowed, everything about life form before him screamed 'power', even her loose hair that seemed to defy the gravity. Lesser beings would flee in terror or beg for their lives, but unfortunately for her, Albedo knew her too well -And he was far from lesser being, as far as he was concerned-. ''Are you done?'' He asked calmly, despite the pressure of mana on him. ''Never took you for a theatric one, it is suppose to be my...'' Pressure doubled. ''shtick.''

 

She looked him in the eyes, ''Albedo,''  voice full of hunting promise. ''If you hurt Ben, there will be no place for you to hide, I _will_ find you, be it in this reality or any other.''

 

Albedo actually chuckled. ''Not bad, little Anodite, but I am not impressed.''

 

Gwen responded to that with a chanting of unknown magical spell.

 

\-----Outside the house-----

 

 _'Okay,'_ Ben thought. _'who is this woman and why is she hugging me?'_

 

When he walked out of the house, two people suddenly came to him out of nowhere. One was a blond woman with green eyes, she wore a red sweater, black pants, and black flats. Other was a brown haired man dressed in white dress shirt and black pants.

 

Woman started hugging him before he could say anything. ''Ben, I'm so glad you came back, everyone was looking for you, we were very worried!''

 

Green eyed hero stiffened in a hug, he felt a sense of familiarity from her.

 

Blond pulled away and looked him in the eyes; Her own were marred with unshed tears. ''Never do this again.''

 

''Told you he would be alright.'' Man besides her said with a smile, he too felt strangely familiar. ''My son can take care of himself just fine.''

 

 _'Son?_ _Are they my parents?!'_ Ben smiled. ''Sorry. A thing came up... and I was held up.''

 

Man smiled. ''It's okay Benji, we understand, your life is not easy,'' His smile fell a little. ''but next time, please leave a note or something.''

 

Green eyed hero nodded hesitantly. ''Okay, I will... dad.''

 

Meanwhile, Kevin was observing interaction from his car. He was conflicted between helping his friend explain his situation to his parents, and protecting his car.

 

Luckily for him, he didn't have to do anything because Albedo and Gwen emerged from the house. His girlfriend looked very satisfied with something, black haired teen couldn't help but to shiver at that, it was that toothy smile, she only showed it when a new spell was successfully used by her, and judging by how angry Albedo looked, it could only mean that he was the target of her magic. Kevin almost pitied the guy; He knew what it felt like to have your body permanently changed, how it affected one's mind and actions.

 

Albedo growled at her. ''Keeping this annoying human body clean is hard enough, I do not need your mana imprinted on me. For logic's sake, I feel so filthy!''

 

Gwen rolled her eyes. ''Get over it. I needed guarantee of Ben's safety.''

 

Albedo gave her a deadpan look. ''I am about to be sent in maximum security Plumber prison, I will not have any contact with Ben Tennyson for rest of my life, or anyone else for the matter, why do you need more guarantees?!''

 

Gwen saw Ben's parents and stopped. _'I have to explain it to them later.'_ She thought before whispering to red eyed boy. '' _You are not going in prison.''_

 

Ex-Galvan frowned at that. ''What do you mean by tha-'' He stopped when he saw angry Mr. Tennyson glaring at him.

 

''You!''

 

Red eyed teen hastily threw his arms up in surrender. ''I am not a threat to him!''

 

''Dear, get me my space bazooka.''

 

Ben jumped in between Albedo and his father, holding his hands in front of him to keep angry man from advancing. ''He saved me.'' He said loudly.

 

That stopped angry parent from doing something rash. He looked at his son with a frown. ''...You sure he won't harm you?''

 

Ben nodded eagerly, letting his hands drop a little. ''I trust him with my life.''

 

White haired boy wanted to argue against it, but more than that, he didn't want infamous Tennyson plasma cannon pointed at him; He had heard of what happened to those who went after heroes's families. He let his arms down slowly, trying to seem as non-threatening as possible. ''I have no intention of harming anyone, Carl Tennyson. In fact, I am about to be taken to Plumber prison.'' He said last part for Gwen.

 

Gwen sighed and nodded. ''He is... not a threat to Ben.''

 

Ben's mother raised a questioning eyebrow at noticeable pause.

 

Carl Tennyson nodded, taking a critical look at his son's clone. ''So you are that doppelganger Benjamin has been talking about past few months?''

 

Albedo narrowed his eyes at that piece of information. _'I have not done anything for past few months to warrant Ben Tennyson's attention; I was laying low, he was not even suppose to know that I was on earth.'_

 

Ben only looked at his father in confusion.

 

''Yes, I remember too.'' Carl's wife added, she was giving red eyed boy far gentler look than her husband. ''Ben said something about stopping you from leaving.''

 

That brought Albedo's thoughts to halt for a second, after which he sent hate-filled glare at green eyed boy. ''You interfered on purpose, _again_!?'' Ex-Galvan's hands were clenched tightly; He was trying all he could to not do something stupid.

 

Brunette turned around with startled look on his face, only to meet glaring red eyes filled with anger. Hero was lost for words, not knowing what could have caused white haired boy to look at him that way.

 

''You are not satisfied with doing it once.'' Albedo continued, too enraged to be cautious. ''What imbecilic reason do you have this time? Was I going to turn everyone on earth into your clone? You did it intentionally, did not you? I know for a fact that you are not dumb enough to fall for it second time!''

 

Silence settled between them when he stopped. Ben's parents looked confused and concerned. Gwen looked like she was having world's biggest headache. And Kevin was getting out of the car to be by his lover's side.

 

Red eyed boy observed the source of his anger. Green eyed teen was looking at him with wide eyes, as if doing a perfect imitation of a kicked puppy. White haired teen felt like someone suddenly poured a bucket of cold water on his hot head.

 

''I'm sorry.'' Ben said weakly, not even knowing what he was apologising for. He just wanted white haired teen to stop looking at him like that.

 

That extinguished whatever anger Albedo had left. _'I lost control.'_ He thought shamefully. But he would not show it, not again. He gathered himself and looked at Gwen, Kevin being just behind her. ''Well, are you going to answer me, Gwen Tennyson?''

 

She was startled by that. ''You are asking me?''

 

''Asking him would be rather pointless.'' He pointed out.

 

Female half-Anodite bit her lip. ''...I don't know.'' She admitted.

 

Albedo gave her a look of pure disbelief. ''He meets with you two at least five times every week, you expect me to believe that he told you nothing about his plans?''

 

''He didn't mention you at all, but he was acting a bit strange past few mon-'' She stopped and narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. ''How do you know how many times we meet?''

 

 _'Walked right into that one.'_ Thought Ex-Galvan. ''...Lucky guess?'' He tried awkwardly.

 

''Albedo...'' Gwen said warningly.

 

White haired boy sighed deeply. _'Not like it matters anymore.'_ ''I have an extended surveillance on Ben Tennyson.''

 

''You have what!?!'' Ben's parents, his cousin and best friend exclaimed at the same time. Brunette himself looked shocked, but he didn't know if it was a lie or not, so he to paid no mind to Albedo's confession.

 

Red eyed boy crossed his arms in defiance. ''Information about him sells well on black market.'' He said it as if that was good reason.

 

Carl moved towards him. ''Why you-'' Only to be stopped by his son once again. ''Ben?''

 

Green eyed teen stood in front of him with determined look on his face. ''Dad, please don't do anything. So what if he did that? I don't mind.''

 

Everyone looked at him as if he was crazy, especially Albedo. ''What is wrong with you?!'' Ex-Galvan asked/shouted. ''Amnesia is one thing, but this beyond that.''

 

''Amnesia?'' Ben's mother asked softly, her husband had the same question in his mind.

 

''Yes Sandra Tennyson, he lost his memories.'' Red eyed boy informed, not taking his eyes off green eyed hero. ''And apparently his mind as well.''

 

''I didn't lose my mind.'' Brunette defended as he turned towards him, pouting. _'I just don't like how they treat you.'_

 

''How did that happen?'' Sandra asked, observing her son with worry.

 

Carl nodded at that. ''I would like to know that too.''

 

''I'm afraid we don't have time for this.''

 

Kevin jumped at new voice behind him. ''Dude, stop sneaking up on me!''

 

Professor Paradox chuckled in amusement. ''Sorry about that, I thought everyone noticed how I exited the house.'' He paused before scowling. ''I had to use the bathroom to get rid of choleric pest.''

 

''...''

 

''Feel free to shoot him if he comes back.'' He added.

 

''And you are?'' Carl asked, looking at new comer with suspicion.

 

''A friend of Ben's and an ally.'' Time walker answered without missing a beat. ''We have to go now, I assure you that your son will be taken care of, though absent for quite some time.'' He gestured towards Kevin's car.

 

''What do you mean?'' Sandra asked with worry in her voice.

 

''It's for everyone's safety, including Ben's.'' Gwen explained with a sad look on her face.

 

Carl nodded. ''I was afraid you were going to say that; Do what you must.''

 

His wife sighed, but agreed. ''Yes. But you and your boyfriend come by as soon as you can, Gwen. Explain us everything over dinner.''

 

Gwen smiled and promised. ''We shall.''

 

''Will he need anything of his? Cloths, food or...''

 

Paradox cut her off. ''No.''

 

They hugged their son one more time, and after four minutes of heartfelt goodbyes, they were finally in Kevin's car. Gwen was sitting in front seat, with Paradox, Ben, and Albedo in the back seats. Ex-Galvan was stuck between Paradox and green eyed teen, with latter being very touchy towards his right arm.

 

''So where are we going?'' Kevin asked as he fastened seatbelt and adjusted rear-view mirror.

 

Gwen's eyes flashed purple.

 

''Oh.... okay.'' Her lover said and started the car.

 

Albedo just glared at them, thinking furiously. _'What are they up to? Where is Azmuth? Why am I still not in jail?!'_

 

''So then,'' Paradox began as car moved. ''I believe there are few things you should be aware of before we do what must be done, Albedo.''

 

He didn't like the sound of that. ''What would those be?'' Red eyed boy asked hesitantly.

 

''You are not going to jail.'' Time walker said, looking outside of window.

 

White haired boy narrowed his eyes at him, dangerous edge creeping in his voice. ''What are you playing at, Time-Walker?''

 

He turned his head towards Albedo, ancient eyes started into Ex-Galvan's red ones for a second, before younger looked away nervously.

 

''I am not playing games, Galvan. Not in this situation.'' He answered with frighteningly calm voice.

 

And red eyed boy believed him. _'Too dangerous.'_

 

Ben however had no problem with meeting time traveler's gaze head on, he increased hold on white haired boy's right arm. Said boy felt a deep shame on how comforting it was. _'I have no choice.'_ He realized in fright. _'He already decided what will happen to me.'_

 

Fear swiftly turned into anger at his powerlessness. _'This is not fair! I just want to go back the way I was, even if imprisoned for rest of my life, I just want to be_ _ **me**_ _again.'_

 

A lone tear found it's way down his cheek. He didn't even notice it until green eyed boy put a hand on his shoulder and hugged him. Buried deep in hero's arms, he felt strange sense of alleviation again; How simple contact had such effect on humans was really fascinating. He broke the hug and wiped the tear away. _'Even so, thing their eyes do when they are distressed or in pain is annoying.'_

 

He soon noticed scrutinizing eyes on him. Ben was looking at him with worry (His hand still on his shoulder), Gwen stared at them from her seat (Open mouth and wide eyes), Kevin had a thoughtful look on his face as he observed them from rear-view mirror (While also keeping an eye on the road), and Paradox had a perfect mask of indifference on his face (He was looking outside of car window again).

 

He pretended he couldn't see their stares and asked. ''What fate have you decided for me?'' Red eyed teen was glad that his voice remained even. 

 

Paradox didn't answer for a minute, keeping his eyes on the window and hands in his pockets. ''...You will be taking care of Ben until he regains his memories, right now we are taking you two off this earth.''

 

''What!?'' Albedo and Kevin asked at the same time, latter almost drove his car off the road.

 

Time traveler sighed and gave them a tired look. ''I'm afraid circumstances have tied our hands in this matter.'' He briefly glanced at confused Ben, before focusing his eyes on Ex-Galvan. ''Azmuth already fixed your condition with Ultimatrix.''

 

Red eyes narrowed in distrust and wariness. _'I am still in this body, what does he mea-'_

 

''And if you agree to our terms, he will offer you a pardon for all of your transgressions.''

 

Distrust and wariness were replaced by a pure shock.

 

Kevin cut in before red eyed boy could contemplate what he was told. ''Wait just a minute, you can't be serious about leaving him with Ben, me and Gwen can take care of hi-''

 

''We can't.'' Gwen said firmly; Expression on her face was a bitter one. ''Professor is right, the situation has left us little to no choice.''

 

Kevin frowned. ''What do you mean?''

 

''I'll explain, but keep your eyes on the road.'' Her eyes glowed purple once more.

 

Albedo had much to think about; He looked between Paradox and two in front of him with distrust.

 

''Isn't that a good thing?'' Ben asked. ''You will not be arrested.'' _'And you'll stay with me, away from prison.'_

 

Albedo shook his head. ''No, there are pieces of information they are not sharing, like where we are going for example, or what kind of situation leaves me of all people as their only choice for a babysitter?'' He looked at green eyed boy. ''Especially if it is _you_ who they want _me_ to babysit.''

 

Brunette pouted at that. ''I'm not a child.''

 

Albedo snorted disbelievingly. ''Keep telling your self that, Ben Tennyson; You are the most troublesome person I know.''

 

Ultimatrix wielder smiled brightly at red eyed boy. ''Then I promise to behave.'' He said playfully.

 

Quiet chuckle was heard from their left as two of them looked at Professor Paradox. ''I have to agree. You are the most troublesome person in this universe, and 4 other ones in the future.''

 

White haired boy was disturbed at time traveler's sudden change in attitude, but he managed to send a winning smirk at brunette nonetheless.

 

 _'Cute!'_ Ben thought as he blushed a little.

 

''So that's why...I see, I think I get it.'' Kevin muttered as Gwen's eyes stopped glowing.

 

Gwen sighed. ''If we had any choice, he would be going straight into Plumber prison, as far away from Ben as we can get him.''

 

''But are you sure he won't harm him?'' Concern slipped into black haired boy's voice.

 

Gwen glanced back at Albedo. ''Even if he somehow lied, I took extra measures of safety for Ben.''

 

Red eyed teen scowled at that as Ben's eyes narrowed. ''I knew it.'' Hero said darkly. ''What did you do to him?!'' His hand reached for Ultimatrix, only to be stopped by Albedo.

 

''It does not concern you, Ben Tennyson.'' He said coldly after letting go of his hand.

 

Ben looked crestfallen and angry, but said nothing to that, choosing instead to glare at Gwen.

 

Sensing her cousin's gaze upon her, half-Anodite replied without looking back. ''Nothing too damaging. You should trust him less, he tried to kill you many times.''

 

Ben's glare dropped, hesitance and conflict easy to read on his face. _'They all say that he wants to harm me, but he had many opportunities to do so, instead, he saved me and provided emotional support for me when I needed it... Also, they don't know that we are together.'_ ''I trust him... So far, he is yet to give me a reason not to.'' _'There must be reasons why we aren't telling them about us. So I better not say too much.'_

 

''Just be careful with him.'' Gwen muttered to herself, but everyone heard her.

 

Meanwhile, Albedo was thinking about his options. _'Not that I have many of them thanks to Time Walker.'_ He thought bitterly. ''I have questions.'' He told Paradox.

 

''I know, and one of them will be answered if you carefully observe this event.''

 

Before white haired boy could ask what he meant, car stopped.

 

''We are here.'' Kevin announced. They got out of vehicle.

 

 _'This place...'_ Albedo and Ben recognized. It was same place they were brought to after paradox took them from Cadmus universe; A desert near Los Soledad.

 

 _'Judging by position of the sun, we where here at least 3 hours ago.'_ Red eyed boy observed as he moved away from the car, Ben following him like a shadow. _'Why bring us back here?'_

 

Before he could inquire, Azmuth appeared in front of him. ''Azmuth.'' He whispered in dreadful anticipation.

 

Elder Galvan didn't didn't even acknowledge his presence. Instead, he went towards Paradox.

 

''You are late.'' Time traveler commented.

 

Azmuth only snorted. ''You and I both know it is impossible for me to be late in this situation.''

 

Professor nodded sadly. ''Did you get everything ready?''

 

''Of course.''

 

Ben and Albedo watched the interaction with obvious curiosity. Not far away, Kevin was leaning on his car, with his girlfriend standing to his right. They were doing the same. It was as if everyone was waiting for something to happen.

 

 _'What is going on? What is there to observe?'_ Ex-Galvan thought furiously. _'Is this a distraction of some kind?'_

 

''What's that?'' Ben called as he noticed something in the distance. Everyone except Paradox and Azmuth looked towards flash of blue light on the horizon.

 

Brunette frowned. ''How is that possible?''

 

Albedo just stared, gears turning in his head.

 

Not too far away from them stood Paradox, with Azmuth sitting on his shoulder.

 

''I guess it is time.'' Azmuth said behind them as he and Paradox moved to meet their ...clones?

 

''How can they be there and here at the same time?'' Ben asked to himself. At this point, he was just going with the flow.

 

''...It is a paradox.'' Red eyed boy said in astonishment.

 

''Well, yeah. That's his name.'' Ben told him, remembering how strange man and frog creature found him with unconscious Albedo in his arms. _'That's what he introduced himself as.'_

 

''No, the situation he was talking about is paradox, he is bound to do what he told his past self to do.'' White haired boy explained, looking thoughtful.

 

''I don't get it....''

 

''Nether do I.'' Ex-Galvan admitted. ''Someone like Time Walker should not be victim to paradoxes. He is too powerful for it.''

 

''It is because of temporal cataclysm.'' Gwen said out loud.

 

Albedo turned towards her with a frown on his face. ''Explain.''

 

Female half-Anodite sighed. It seemed that it was up to her to inform them. ''Cataclysm damaged the fabric of our universe, right now there is a giant wound in this world. Paradox said that he was not going to use his temporal abilities anymore than he already has, not until he repaired the damage at least.'' She told them grimly. ''Otherwise, by his own words, entire galaxy could be pushed thru this wound, straight into the void.'' Gwen gave red eyed boy and her cousin a pointed look. ''That is why he can't unmake this paradox, and...'' She stopped herself from saying more.

 

''And what?'' Ben asked her.

 

''He told me to not tell you.''

 

Two homogeneous teens looked at each other with frowns on their faces. _'This is indeed a mess.'_

 

White haired boy glanced where Paradox and Azmuth were talking to their past selves, both versions of first thinker were facing each other on the ground, as versions of Time Walker were whispering among each other. ''So he was told by his future self, which is happening right now, to make me Ben Tennyson's babysitter, and he has no choice but to do it?''

 

Kevin nodded. ''Pretty much.''

 

Silence stretched out between them as everyone was thinking hard about their predicament.

 

''...''

 

''This is just not fair!'' Albedo exclaimed in anger, earning strange looks from 3 other teens. ''I should be in prison by now... instead I... Ugh!'' He greeted his teeth.

 

Green eyed hero looked dejected at that, biting his lip. _'He would rather be in jail than with me... How bad of a person was I for him to prefer incarceration?'_

 

Seeing such look on brunette's face felt wrong to ex-Galvan, he quickly regained control of his emotions and scowled. ''There is more that you are not telling us, am I correct?'' He asked without looking at female hybrid.

 

Gwen exchanged looks with her lover before answering. ''...Yes.''

 

''Fine then. It seems that I truly do not have a choice in the matter.''

 

They could do nothing but wait till Paradox and Azmuth were done.

 

They took their sweet time, 20 minutes to be precise. After which they, along with their past selves, walked towards teens.

 

Kevin looked confused between them. ''Which of you are ours?''

 

''That would be us.'' Paradox to the right answered as Azmuth jumped on his shoulder.

 

Their past selves observed in silence.

 

''What now?'' Ben asked.

 

3 Boxes appeared in font of them, 2 made entirely of metal, no bigger than a medium sized office box. Third one on the other hand, was made of Taydenite, but roughly same in size as other ones.

 

Albedo and Ben frowned, but before they could ask questions, present Azmuth started talking. ''You already know the dilemma we are facing?''

 

Red eyed boy glared at elder Galvan. ''...More or less.'' He forced himself to say.

 

''Those boxes are important, make sure to keep them with you at all times. You will also need a place to stay, we will try to land you near one, ask for a human named Batman and give him that.'' He pointed at Taydenite box. ''Make sure of Ben Tennyson's survival until I find safe way to return you two.''

 

_'Batman... I have heard that name before...'_

 

Ex-Galvan's eyes went wide as white light took them away.

 

\-----

 

Azmuth jumped on the ground and looked at their past selves. ''We have no other choice.''

 

Paradox nodded with a frown and observed them as well. They were a pictures of calmness, but he knew better, he already lived this moment. ''You can ask questions and implore Gwendolyn's abilities to reconfirm the truth.''

 

Past Paradox and past Azmuth shared a wary look.

 

Their future selves only chuckled. ''I know you are skeptical now, but trust yourselves a little.'' Time walker said.

 

Past selves remained silent along with Gwen and Kevin.

 

Time traveler sighed. _'Have to keep time line intact, this universe can not take another temporal event while the wound is open.'_ He raised his hands as a massive shockwave passed thru the air.

 

''How did you do that?'' Past Paradox asked, looking around.

 

''You'll find out on the way to Ben Tennyson, in the past.'' He answered and looked in the sky. ''Keep time travel to minimum, I have closed the wound now, but it will still be an issue if you use it too much while in the past.''

 

Past Azmuth spoke up, face unreadable. ''Then we shall get to it.''

 

Their past selves disappeared in the flash of white light.

 

''What now?'' Gwen asked.

 

Professor looked at her with pity. ''Now we start searching for a way to find them.''

 

Kevin crossed his arms. ''Why can't you just go and find them yourself? You did it once.''

 

Immortal scowled. ''It's not that easy, I'm afraid. I have reinforced the damaged fabric of this universe, but in the process, I was forced to lose direct way to other universe.'' His expression changed into wonderment. ''They are out there right now, in one of infinite worlds... Where even I can't reach them. It's one of places I'm not allowed to go from this day on.''

 

''You said that before, what do you mean by that?'' Gwen asked as she took hold of her boyfriend's arm.

 

Time traveler didn't answer immediately, he only stared at empty space around them, as if seeing something that no one else could. ''Nothing you should concern yourself with... for now. Say hello to Ms. Tennyson from me!''

 

With a snap of his fingers, white light flashed and teens were no more. ''I can finally move.'' He said with small bit of satisfaction. ''I forgot how dreadfully slow traditional means of transportation can be.'' He looked at Kevin's car and smiled mischievously. ''I'm sure he can get it back on his own.''

 

Azmuth shook his head, he was in deep thoughts of his own. ''I shall be going then, who knows when those two will be able to contact me thru the chaos that goes out there right now.''

 

He was about to teleport away when a sudden question from his oldest friend stopped him.

 

''When and where did you get temporal shields and temporal extractor?''

 

Smartest being in 4 galaxies looked up in confusion. ''What? Why do you assume I have any of those? My promise of not interfering with temporal balance still stands.''

 

Paradox narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. ''Then who installed them in Ultimatrix?''

 

''Someone installed them in Ultimatrix!?'' Small alien said in stupefaction and horror. ''Was it Albedo? He can not be foolish enough to actually-''

 

''He said it wasn't him; He wasn't lying.'' Paradox cut him off. He put hands in pockets of his coat and gave Galvan a pointed look. ''And we both know he would not be able to build them, not to mention integrate such complicated devices into Ultimatrix. Not on his own, not without any of us noticing it.''

 

''Then who?'' First thinker demanded with a hard look.

 

Time traveler fell silent at that, suddenly looking very old and very tired. ''I wish I didn't have faintest idea on who it was.''

 

Azmuth stared at immortal with wide eyes. In all the years that they had known each other (more than 2000 years), Galvan never once saw him this ...vulnerable? The great and powerful being, who walked thru 4 dimension and saw time in its full glory. _'What can make such man -More than man- look like this? ...Perhaps I am not meant to find out.'_ First thinker didn't know how much time passed while he did nothing but stare helplessly at such rare phenomenon. He finally dared to speak when other offered no elaboration. ''...Are you all right, old friend?''

 

Galvan received somewhat broken smile in response, something he never thought he would see on someone like Paradox.

 

''Just time catching up with all of us, no matter how fast we run.'' Ancient eyes stared at Azmuth for a minute, before disappearing in all too familiar light.

 

\-----

 

''We know who you are and what you want!'' Robin called out angrily.

 

Aqualad agreed. ''So let's end this.''

 

Kid Flash glared at floating android.

 

Behind them, Superboy and Martian stood side by side.

 

''What's that?'' Half-Kryptonian pointed right below floating robot.

 

Flashes of white light started forming out of thin air, gathering together and forming a ball of light. Then suddenly, it exploded in blinding blue light. Heroes had to look away to protect their vision, but when it died down, they were able to see two teens on the ground, along with some strange objects.

 

''Wait, aren't they...?'' Kid flash said in recognition as his teammates stared at familiar forms.

 

\-----

 

Albedo got up with a groan, his body sore all over. Next to him on the ground, Ben was in same condition. ''What was that?'' Ultimatrix wielder asked, disoriented by their method of travel.

 

Red eyed boy helped brunette up. ''I felt it, something in those boxes interfered with Time Walk-No.'' He saw familiar teenagers not too far from them. _'I was right, but why did it have to be here?!'_

 

''Hey, aren't they those guys we met in Cadmus?'' Ben asked as he saw where white haired boy was looking. ''We are back here?''

 

Ex-Galvan nodded dumbly, but he had no time to consider their situation because deep robotic voice from above spoke up. ''More children? Have I stumbled upon a kindergarten?''

 

They looked up and saw a red robot, hovering above them. ''Who's this guy?'' Ben asked, getting ready to transform.

 

 _'A drone?'_ Albedo thought to himself.

 

''That's Red Tornado, and he's being a jerk right now.'' Kid flash called.

 

''You think I'm Red Tornado? Ironic.'' Black clouds began to gather in the sky, accompanied by lighting.

 

''Can Red Tornado do that?'' Speedster wondered, doubt creeping in his voice.

 

Robot shot said lightning at them, which made contact on the ground beneath teens and threw unprepared heroes backwards. Superboy was only one left standing due to his invulnerability, he got rid of what was left of his shirt and jumped up to attack the villain. That was a mistake, he had no mobility in the air to dodge another lighting shot, and robot used that mistake to the fullest, shooting electricity from his palms and hitting clone straight into chest.

 

Half-Kryptonian was sent down by the impact, crashing near other unconscious teens while creating a small crater in the process.

 

With young heroes momentarily dispatched, robot's attention was on location of two newcomers, it flew down towards them, only to find one of them missing. ''Where is the other one?''

 

Ben looked around, confused and angry. ''Where did he go?'' _'He left me again?!'_

 

Suddenly, ice started forming on robot, making it harder for it to fly. ''What is happening? How are you doing this?!''

 

A smile started forming on green eyed boy's face. ''I'm not doing anything.'' He said with a smirk, already having a good idea on what was causing it.

 

It started descending downward, its mobility compromised by the ice on the inside. ''This is Absurd, I refuse to be defeated by some children!'' As more and more ice spread on its body, more powerless it became. It did not take long for Robot to be on the ground, unmoving and defeated, but it still had dim light in its eyes, signifying that some of the functions were still active.

 

 _ **''You have no defence against such attacks, and ice is damaging your circuitry from the inside, which means most of your weapons are non-functional.''**_ Disembodiedvoice commented. _**''You can't even detect this form.''**_

 

Albedo appeared in front of defeated opponent in Necrofriggian form, its wings in folded state. 

 

''When did you even transform?''

 

Ex-Galvan turned his head towards Ben. _**''When you were staring; As it was using lighting.''**_

 

Green eyed boy stared in awe at defeated villain. ''You are a really good fighter.''

 

Red eyed creature shifted uncomfortably at yet another praise from his nemesis.... Former nemesis? _**''...Anyway, how are the boxes?''**_

 

Brunette glanced at the objects on the ground behind him. ''All here.'' He assured.

 

Meanwhile, knocked out teens swiftly regained consciousness and surrounded their defeated opponent.

 

''It's down?!'' Ginger head hero questioned in cheer, tapping testingly on frost covered metal of its chest.

 

''Awesome!'' Shouted black haired boy in sunglasses.

 

''That is very impressive.'' Atlantean praised.

 

Superboy was standing further away, looking curiously between frozen robot and two look-alikes. Behind him and even further away, Martian female was avoiding direct eye contact with everyone.

 

Dick turned to Ben and Albedo with a massive grin on his face. ''You saved our backsides on this one.''

 

''Al did most of the work.'' Brunette replied with a grin of his own.

 

Ex-Galvan transformed into human. ''Who is this 'Al' person?'' He demanded with narrowed eyes.

 

Ben raised an eyebrow. ''You are.''

 

''It's Albedo!'' Red eyed boy howled.

 

''So, not that we aren't glad that you saved out butts from Red Tornado extra, but what are you doing here?'' Boy wonder asked. ''That Az guy said you two were back home, wherever that is.''

 

Ex-Galvan crossed his arms and glared at the ground. ''...We were sent to find someone named Batman.''

 

Youngest hero exchanged concerned looks with Superboy, Wally and Aqualad. ''Really? What for?''

 

''We have to give him one of these.'' Ben answered him, gesturing at boxes behind them.

 

''And those are?'' Wally asked, walking closer to them.

 

Brunette paused and turned to Albedo.

 

''What? I do not know what those are for!'' Ex-Galvan snapped. _'Not for sure, at least.'_

 

Group observed the two very carefully. They were not an enemy, that much they were sure of, but bringing them to Batman was... less than desirable. Only one of them had an idea on how dark knight would react, so decision was left to boy wonder. Who seemed to have already made up his mind. ''We'll contact Batman for you.''

 

Before anyone could talk more, a beeping noise started coming from defeated robot, its eyes flashing between red and blue faster and faster.

 

It took teens less than a moment to realize what it was about to do; They ran away from self-destructing villain as fast as they could.

 

''The boxes!'' Albedo remembered once they were quite a distance away from it.

 

''I got them!'' Megan called out, showing 3 floating objects behind her, which she picked up with her telekinesis.

 

The noise of something exploding rang thru the air, teens turned around to find pile of burning ruble in place of defeated Robot.

 

''It seems that self-destruct mechanism was still operational.'' Albedo said to himself.

 

After that they contacted Red Tornado, who contacted Batman. Dark knight allowed them access to Mount Justice, they used Martian's ship for transport. Ex-Galvan refrained from speaking out against such technology being on earth. _'I do not know how advanced humans are in this universe.'_ He thoughtas they landed inside the base.

 

Ben was looking around, fascinated by everything inside the secret cave. His clone on the other hand was deep in his own thoughts.

 

When they arrived in mission room, caped crusader was already there. Robin immediately started giving him full report of what happened. After boy wonder was done, Batman's eyes landed on two similar teenagers. ''Who ordered you two to come back?''

 

It was brown haired boy who answered. ''Azmuth.''

 

''For what reason, I thought his business here was to find you?''

 

Ultimatrix wielder rubbed his head, not knowing how to explain paradox and its complicated reasons. ''Um...'' He looked at his companion with pleading eyes.

 

Ex-Galvan mentally scoffed at that look, directing his own, more serious one, at Batman. ''Perhaps you should ask him that?'' He offered. ''They told us half the reason, but withheld vital parts for obvious reason.'' He sent a pointed look at caped human.

 

Man in front of him obviously knew more about them than sidekicks, which meant that he was aware of Albedo's criminal history. He would understand what white haired boy meant by 'obvious reasons'. At least said boy hoped he would.

 

Dark knight gave them a long, piercing look. ''And how would I contact him?''

 

Red eyed boy was prepared for that question. ''We were told to give you something. Green female, if you may.'' He gestured towards Megan.

 

''It's Megan.'' She corrected, letting boxes she carried from the ship float towards two look-alikes. She let them down one by one on the floor.

 

Batman observed objects warily before returning his calculating gaze on Albedo.

 

Ex-Galvan pointed at Taydenite one. ''I suspect this to be a way for you to contact him.'' He hoped it was. _'But if it is not, then I have no idea.'_

 

Dark knight started walking towards Zeta-Beam. ''John.''

 

''On it.'' Deep voice answered near the place he stood before.

 

A green creature with red eyes appeared out of nowhere, male as far as Albedo and Ben could tell, they both recognized similarities between him and Megan, and remembered seeing him briefly after their escape from Cadmus. Creature, without saying a word, moved the boxes same way Megan did before, and followed Batman.

 

Martian Manhunter and Batman used Zeta-Beam to teleport away, taking 3 objects with them to undisclosed location. _'No doubt about it, he does not want me to hear anything; He was even prepared to capture me should things come to it.'_ White haired boy thought furiously, biting his lip.

 

Ben disliked what he just witnessed. _'Why are people always hostile to him?'_ He turned back to ask suddenly silent sidekicks some questions, but he saw them looking at Albedo with guarded looks. _'Them too!?'_

 

Megan was tense and awkward, as was Kid flash.

 

Robin looked as calm as ever, but he was holding Birdarangs.

 

Aqualad was looking at them like a hawk, ready to attack at any moment.

 

They all seemed ready to fight, only one standing relaxed, with his arms crossed, was Superboy.

 

''Ultimatrix, scan for life signs.'' Ex-Galvan ordered with thoughtful look on his face.

 

Device did as it was told, light scanned everything, almost making heroes attack in the process. **''8 life forms detected.''**

 

Brunette frowned. ''But there are only 7 of us here...''

 

Seeing as hiding was useless, Green lantern dropped his camouflage. ''Did you know I was here?''

 

Albedo observed new life form in front of him with interest. Human covered in green aura was floating behind where Batman stood a minute ago, at least Ex-Galvan assumed he was a human; A Caucasian male with short brown hair, dressed in green and black uniform of some kind, with greener mask to match, and cocky grin on his face that made white haired boy remember Ben's own when teen was mocking his enemies. Unknown to him symbol on man's chest didn't escape ex-Galvan's attention. It disturbingly reminded him of Plumber's symbol.

 

White haired teen shrugged. ''I did not know, not for sure.''

 

''If they had one invisible guy ready to detain us, why wouldn't there be one more?'' Ben said out loud to himself.

 

Ex-Galvan gave him an irritated look. ''Not 'us,' Ben Tennyson. It is I who they are wary of.''

 

''Wanna tell us why?'' Robin asked suddenly, earning nods of agreement from his friends. ''Batman told us to be ready if you tried something.''

 

''Robin.'' Hal said with a disapproving tone.

 

 _'Told them? When did they communicate without me noticing?'_ Albedo observed and analyzed them for a minute. ''One of you is telepathic.'' He stated with a frown. _'First Genomorphs, then Gwen Tennyson, and now this?!'_

 

''It's Megan, isn't it?'' Ultimatrix wielder asked with a thoughtful look on his face.

 

White haired teen nodded slowly, trying to deduce identity of alleged telepath. ''Most likely. We have seen what those 4 can do; Telepathy did not seem something they would be capable of.'' _'Not to mention,'_ Albedo thought. _'the way she carried our boxes, it is was undoubtedly telekinesis; Telekinesis and telepathy go hand in had.'_

 

Sidekicks and elder hero stared at two with wide eyes.

 

''She looks similar to that John guy.'' Ben thought back to Martian Manhunter. ''So there are two telepaths?''

 

Red eyed boy sighed. ''Probably. But the human before us might be one as well.''

 

Uncomfortable moment of silence is what followed next, young heroes didn't know what to make of the situation. It was Adult hero who spoke up first. ''I must say, it is an honor to meet you, Kid; Azy has told us great deal about you.'' He landed on the floor and walked towards two look-alike teens, holding his right hand up. ''I am Green Lantern.''

 

Ultimatrix wielder looked at offered hand hesitantly, before remembering Albedo's words. _I advice you to act in accordance with your status._ He grabbed the offered hand confidently, and shook it. ''Likewise. Just Ben is fine.'' He said with a vigorous smile to match.

 

Others watched the exchange with open mouths. Not including Albedo who was scowling.

 

GL turned to him, letting go of young hero's hand in the process. ''Azmuth mentioned you as well.'' He stated neutrally.

 

"...I hope only good things." Red eyed boy said with a forced smirk.

 

''So, who are they?'' Wally asked, voicing the question for his friends.

 

Lantern shook his head. ''League secret, Batman might tell you when he returns. Meanwhile, we will keep an eye on him.'' He said, not taking his eyes off white haired boy.

 

Wally and Robin looked none too pleased at the answer, as did Kaldur and shirtless Superboy.

 

 _'How do you all know them?'_ Megan asked thru telepathy.

 

 _'We met in Cadmus.'_ Kaldur answered with a frown on his face. _'They were breaking out ...while we were breaking in; They freed Superboy and helped us escape.'_

 

 _'But why do that if they are the bad guys?'_ Wally thought. It was meant to be a private question in his mind, but young speedster wasn't used to telepathic communications, because of that, his question was heard by everyone.

 

 _'Only potential threat here is Albedo.'_ Lantern of will corrected them. _'Ben Tennyson is a hero, he just lost his memories, but we are worried that he might be manipulated by Albedo; Be on your guard.'_

 

Sidekicks nodded and moved their eyes on white haired teen. Only one who didn't do that was Superboy.

 

''It's a bit rude.'' Ultimatrix wielder whispered to his clone. ''Using telepathy so that we can't hear them... Gwen did same thing.''

 

Ex-Galvan moved away from the other teen, who was once again too close for red eyed boy's comfort. ''...Whatever.''

 

Ben frowned before sighing. He then turned to Superboy. ''Where is the kitchen? I am famished.''

 

Startled by sudden question, half-Kryptonian opened and closed his mouth few times before answering. ''...Follow me.''

''We have to wait for Batman!'' Wally called. _'And keep an eye on evil twin over there.'_ He added thru telepathic link.

 

Other teens agreed.

 

Hal looked hesitant. _'A snack does sound good.'_

 

Superboy shrugged. ''Doesn't mean we have to do any of that here.'' He shot a look at elder hero, asking for permission.

 

''...I suppose it will do no harm.'' Green Lantern said and turned invisible once more. _'Keep the telepathic link open; I'll be near.'_

 

Superboy led the two towards their destination. Other teens, after few moments of contemplation, followed behind.

 

\-----

 

When Batman finally teleported back into mission room, he was concerned to find no one there. Caped hero wasted no time in doing full scan of the base, he was about to call in for back up when scan revealed that everyone was in a cooking area. With swiftness that would startle even a speedster, he moved towards their location.

 

He was prepared for the worst; From hostage situation to base being overrun with enemy forces. But what he expected least was them all sitting around table with Green Lantern, who he specifically told _not_ to reveal himself. They were chattering among each other as if Batman hadn't told them to keep and eye on Albedo. Who was sitting with them with Ben at his side. _'Keeping and eye on potentially dangerous individual doesn't involve distracting yourself with food.'_

 

They haven't noticed him, so he decided to use this opportunity to listen and gather more data. _'After all, information heard straight from the source is always more reliable'_. And he would notice things sidekicks and Hal might miss. _'Already missed, if we consider how preoccupied Hal and Wally are with food... At least Robin and Aqualad are on guard.'_

 

''This is delicious!'' Wally announced as he finished another plate of what looked like fried meat.

 

''I know, right?'' Green Lantern agreed after taking another bite. ''Hadn't had food this good in a while; 3 weeks give or take.''

 

Nods of agreement came around table, especially from Megan who looked thoughtful as she examined piece of meat on her fork, no doubt thinking about improving her cooking skills. _'Maybe he will like them.'_

 

Beside her, Superboy -who now wore another black shirt with Superman's symbol on it- frowned when he heard another heartbeat in the room, near the door. He didn't need to turn around to know who it was; Half-Kryptonian wisely kept silent about it.

 

Dick and Kaldur were only half listening to Wally and GR. They had their attention on two teens between them. They were determined to follow Dark Knight's orders to the fullest.

 

Said boys were enjoying their meal peacefully. White haired one was focused on his plate, while being blissfully oblivious to brown haired teen's frequent glances.

 

Batman zeroed-in on them. _'If what Azmuth said is true, then it hasn't even been a day for them.'_ A talk with small alien was illuminating to say the least. _'What should I do with them?'_ Dark knight asked himself a rhetorical question in his mind, already knowing what he was going to do; Plans for different situations were running thru his mind.

 

''Where did you learn how to cook?'' Ben asked suddenly, gaining attention of everyone in the room.

 

Albedo scoffed, pushing away his empty plate. ''If you think I survived on chili fries for this long, you are sorely mistaken.'' He looked down at his hands in melancholy. ''This body can not survive on that unhealthy delicacy alone. I taught myself how to make other... aliments.''

 

 _'What do chili fries_ _have to do with anything?'_ ''Oh...'' Brunette said with look of confusion at albino's display. ''Do I know how to cook?'' He asked with hope in his voice.

 

Red eyed teen gave him a long look of 'are you joking, human?' ''Only if you consider ash to be edible.''

 

Martian let out an awkward chuckle at that.

 

''Who are you two anyway?'' Dick asked again. He ignored a warning look that Green Lantern gave him and continued. ''Why would Batman tell us to be on our guard with you?''

 

White haired boy considered his question before giving him a cold look. ''If your superior does not see it fit to inform you, I see no reason to do it for him.''

 

Even thru dark glasses, boy wonder's glare was undeniable.

 

Ben decided to intervene. ''We don't mean you any harm, if that's what you are worried about.'' He looked at Albedo for confirmation. ''Right?''

 

''They are not my enemies... For now.'' White haired boy stated, not caring.

 

Skeptical looks around him were hard to miss, even Ben looked unsure. ''...Right.''

 

Batman saw this as a moment to make himself be known to others. He walked towards them like a shadow, unnoticed and without a sound. Once he was behind Hal, he announced. ''I have talked with Azmuth.''

 

Green Lantern jumped up in surprise before turning around and glaring at Dark Knight. ''Stop doing that already!''

 

Batman went straight to business.''Anything to report?''

 

''Nothing important.''

 

Gotham's protector nodded, turning his gaze towards Ben and Albedo. Hal knew he would demand a detailed report later. _'What a piece of work.'_

 

 _'I opened the link for Batman.... He heard that; We all did.'_ Megan told him with awkwardness in her voice.

 

Sidekicks gave the man/hero pitying looks.

 

_'...Shit.'_

 

 _'Language.'_ Batman reprimanded.

 

 _'Who are they?'_ Robin asked/demanded. Other sidekicks nodded in approval at his question, most of them too intimidated by Dark Knight to talk to him like that.

 

_'You will all be briefed about them later.'_

 

''We are still here you know.'' Ben informed matter-of-factly. ''What did little guy say?''

 

Albedo agreed with a nod, looking up from his seat. ''What are first thinker's orders?''

 

''You two will join young justice.''

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing, this is for fun. Everything belongs to their respected owners. Not me; This is for fun only.

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing. I get no profit from writing this. This is all for fun.


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